Report from the Commission to the European Parliament, the Council, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions in accordance with Article 117(4) of REACH and Article 46(2) of CLP, and a review of certain elements of REACH in line with Articles 75(2), 138(2), 138(3) and 138(6) of REACH

Designed to ensure a high level of protection of human health and the environment, as well as the free circulation of substances on the internal market while enhancing competitiveness and innovation and to shift the responsibility to manage chemical risks from public authorities to industry, the REACH Regulation (hereinafter REACH) entered into force on 1 June 2007. At the time of adoption REACH raised major challenges and questions for all the stakeholders involved. REACH required new forms of cooperation to share information among companies, enhancing communication along the supply chain as well as developing tools to guide and assist companies and public authorities in the implementation.

Five years after REACH entered into force, key milestones for its implementation have been accomplished. The first registration deadline in 2010 was a success, industry met its obligations with 24,675 registration dossiers submitted, corresponding to 4,300 substances. In result, the quality of data available for risk management has been significantly improved resulting in a marked decrease of the nominal risk for the registered substances. The authorities played their role, for example responding to thousands of questions, the majority coming from SMEs, through the network of Helpdesks, available in all Member States. Founded in 2007, the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) is now fully operational. In the same period, the Commission made available €330 million to fund research and other activities to develop alternative methods to animal testing.

A number of reporting and review obligations fall on the Commission five years after the date of entry into force; this Report meets these obligations. In addition it provides a platform for the Commission to report on findings from some more general assessments of the operation of REACH. An accompanying Staff Working Document provides further details of the findings used for the conclusions and recommendations in this Report.

In accordance with REACH, the Commission must report on the experience acquired with its operation and on the funding made available by the Commission for the development and evaluation of alternative test methods. REACH also calls upon the Commission to review the requirements relating to registration of low-tonnage substances, to report on the need, if any, to register certain types of polymers, to assess whether or not to amend the scope of REACH to avoid overlaps with other relevant Union provisions and to carry out a review of ECHA.

ESO: Background Information: REACH: Chemicals in Europe have become safer http://www.europeansources.info/record/press-release-reach-chemicals-in-europe-have-become-safer/

EUR-Lex: COM(2013)49: Follow the progress of this report through the decision-making procedure http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/HIS/?uri=COM:2013:049:FIN

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