The REACH Regulation is a Directive of the European Parliament and Council concerning the safe use of chemicals through their registration, authorisation and evaluation. An important change from the previous EU chemicals legislation is that, under REACH, responsibility for the management of the risks lies with the company that manufactures, imports, places on the market or uses a substance in the context of its professional activities. The safe use of chemicals is the core objective of REACH. Industry is responsible for establishing the safety of chemicals. Companies must demonstrate that they use their substances safely and provide accurate data in their registration dossiers. The results of these tests must be submitted to the Chemical Agency in Helsinki. Pre-registration, which took place between 1st June and 1st December 2008, required manufacturers and importers to provide a limited set of information on the phase-in substances they intend to register (no data, no market), in order to be entitled to take advantage of the transitional provisions for registration. Pre-registration is the starting point for the formation of Substance Information Exchange Fora (SIEF), where manufacturers and importers who pre-register can exchange information and jointly prepare the information to be submitted for registration. The next stage (which is anticipated to last for 10.5 years) is the registration, which is taking place now. The registration requires performing many specific tests of produced or imported substances, depending on their tonnage and influence on human health and the environment. The reports published by the Agency allow tracking the statistics concerning the course of the registration and the share of individual countries in the process. At this stage of implementing the Regulation, the course of the pre-registration can be summed up and a general assessment of the course of the registration can be performed. After completing the registration, there will be started the process of verifying the data presented by the registering entities, which can last for a long time. The new system results in the necessity of bearing the administrative costs and the costs of preparing the data required for European registration, but it also offers an opportunity of learning about the influence of chemicals on the environment and on health of humans and animals. This knowledge will surely allow avoiding many threats connected with the use of unknown and untested chemicals.
