On June 8, Ambassadors and senior representatives from the countries above gathered to express their concerns on the proposed Registration, Evaluation, Authorization and Restriction of Chemicals (REACH) legislation to the European Union institutions.   The meeting, hosted by the American Chamber of Commerce to the European Union (AmCham EU), focused on the trading partners’ concerns with REACH’s workability, its potential effects on international trade, and the opacity of the regulatory process and implementation preparations.  Developing countries highlighted concerns regarding the cost of REACH especially on SMEs.  Trading partners uniformly agreed that modifications reducing the potentially disruptive impact of REACH on international trade and improving its workability would improve the legislation and would facilitate its eventual implementation.  The trading partners called for the EU to use the second reading in Parliament to address the problematic aspects of the proposal. The speakers highlighted the need for more stakeholder input in both the drafting and implementation stages of the REACH regulatory process.

Specifically, trading partners seek a more risk-based authorization process that does not dampen the competitive environment in order to ensure a more cost-effective and workable document.  Moves to require mandatory substitution or across the board uniform time limits would cause unnecessary market disruptions without clear environmental benefits.  Trading partners recommended that the Council and European Parliament once again review the legislation for unnecessary overlaps and inconsistencies, perhaps revisiting the scope of authorization and registration.  For example, speakers pointed out that applying the authorization procedure to everyday bulk commodities such as ores and ore concentrates - trade in which is already adequately covered by existing EU workplace and environmental protection legislation - will serve only to damage EU interests and those of exporting countries, many of whom are developing countries.

Creation of a candidate list not informed by risk considerations could easily be misinterpreted by the wider public without providing additional value to regulators.

Trading partners raised questions about the environmental value of certain registration and notification requirements and pointed out the possibility of causing disparities between EU and non-EU businesses.  For example, many countries questioned the environmental value of registering reacted monomers in polymers when the low-risk polymers have no registration requirements.  Such monomer registrations would not provide the Agency with relevant risk data for the final polymer since the reacted monomers could no longer exhibit their original characteristics.  The concern expressed about the disparity between EU polymer producers and polymer importers was in relation to the description “by an actor up the supply chain.”  Registration and Notification of substances embedded in articles when no potential risks have yet been identified could cause many entities including numerous SMEs from developing countries to forego the EU market without corresponding environmental benefit.

Trading partners suggested REACH would benefit from harmonization with existing international regulatory efforts such as accepting test data developed under OECD guidelines and other international fora and using informed substitution. 

The partners also recognized the important workability efforts presently underway in the REACH Implementation Projects and called for an opportunity for public comment on the guidelines that are being developed and consideration of stakeholder input when revising these implementing documents before adoption by the European Chemicals Agency.

Some speakers expressed concern that REACH would hinder development in lower income countries.  They urged the EU to consider the grave consequences on developing economies should REACH be adopted in its current form. The high costs of compliance, including the high registration fees would be particularly burdensome for SMEs.  The lack of technological and human resource capacity to comply may render the EU markets inaccessible for exports from developing countries.   

The Ambassadors pledged their willingness to work closely with the European Parliament and other EU institutions to help make REACH more workable and thus more successful.