Although REACH is an EU chemicals’ management regulation it also affects companies who make, and indeed, supply articles. A small number of articles’ producers and importers may have been affected by pre-registration and registration duties where substances were intended to be released during use; reaching much further are the aspects of REACH which regulate chemicals of concern in products. This guide sets out the main features and the obligations of suppliers and has been updated in light of the ECJ Ruling on SVHCs in articles on 10 September 2015.
The duty to submit a registration to the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) applies on at a substance level, meaning an article itself does not need to be registered. Where an article is actually a container or carrier of chemicals such as in the case of a marker pen or wet wipe, the article and substance/mixture are to be considered separately. Registration duties may apply to the substance/mixture component, but this guidance focuses on the article itself, i.e. the casing of the pen and the woven fabric of the wipe in the above examples.
When an article is not deemed to be a carrier or container of a substance or mixture, we regard it as an article with integral chemicals. An example would be pipes or guttering made from coloured PVC. In those circumstances, an article producer or importer would only need to register component substances provided both the following conditions apply:
Where these conditions are met, registration of the substance follows the same process as that for any other registrant. The registration applies only to the substance(s) being released, not to the full chemical composition or to the article in its entirety.
In practice, there are very few situations in which registration is required due to intended release, the most notable examples being fragranced consumer products such as coat-hangers, drawer liners, and moisturising socks and gloves. Unintended releases or those due to wear and tear do not require registration by the article producer or importer (unless they are manufacturing or importing the substances in their own right in chemical form).
ECHA may also require a registration is made in other circumstances, if they feel an unintended release from an article presents a risk to human health or the environment.
Since 1 June 2011 a new REACH obligation has applied affecting many suppliers of articles such as finished goods, spare parts and components. Importers and producers of articles containing Candidate List substances present above 0.1% by weight (w/w) may need to submit a notification dossier to the European Chemicals Agency, ECHA.
