Reach,the New European Chemicals Policy: What for?

Abstract

In October 2003 the European Commission adopted a proposal for a regulation aimed at radically recasting the Community policy on chemical substances. This proposed reform, known as REACH, sets up an overall system for the registration, evaluation, authorization, and restriction of chemicals. The objectives of REACH are to ensure a high level of protection for human health and the environment while strengthening the competitive position of the European chemical industry. How to strike that delicate balance remains riven with controversy. While intense lobbying by industry has substantially reduced the REACH requirements on the producers of chemicals, big changes in the management of chemical risks in Europe are still in the making. The reform which has yet to be approved by the Council and Parliament in a co-decision procedure represents a real opportunity to reduce the number of chemical-related occupational diseases.

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Children's health and environment: a review of evidence, WHO/EEA, 2002.

Strategy for a Future Chemicals Policy, White Paper, COM (2001) 88 final, European Commission, 27 February 2001.

Norén

Mieronyté

, Contaminants in Swedish human milk. Decreasing levels of organochlorine and increasing levels of organobromine compounds, Organohalogen Compounds, 35: 1–4, 1998.

Third Survey on European Working Conditions, Dublin, European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions, 2000.

Occupational Diseases in Europe in 2001, Statistics in Focus, No. 15, Eurostat, 2004.

Musu

. REACHing the workplace, how workers stand to benefit from the new European policy on chemical agents, Brussels, TUTB, 2004.

Economic effects of the EU Substances Policy, Arthur D. Little GmBH, 2003.

Study of the Impact of the Future Chemicals Policy, Mercer Management Consulting, 2003.

Methodological Problems of Assessing the Economic Impacts of EU Chemicals Policy, UBA, 2003.

10.

Ackerman

Massey

. The true costs of REACH, TemaNord 2004:557, Nordic Council of Ministers, Copenhagen, 2004.