The Innospec Regulatory team have finalized submissions for the European Union (EU) regulation concerning the Registration, Evaluation, Authorization and Restriction of Chemicals (REACH). The regulation was introduced in 2007 and required that industry submit registrations for all existing (phase-in) substances manufactured or imported into the EU by a corporate legal entity in quantities of 1 tonne or more per year by the end of May 2018. With an estimated 21,550 substances covered, it is the most comprehensive review of the health and environmental impacts of chemicals anywhere in the world.
Innospec has collaborated on the response to REACH through its membership of Technical Associations, REACH Consortia, Substance Information Exchange Forums and the European Chemical Industry Council (Cefic) to ensure its compliance to REACH. We have collated, shared data, prepared and submitted registration dossiers where required to ensure all Innospec products that continue to be manufactured, imported and placed on the EU market beyond May 2018 are REACH compliant. By the end of 2018, this had entailed a total of 187 registrations covering 152 different chemical substances of which Innospec are lead registrant for 57 substances.
In 2019, our responsibilities under Europe’s REACH program continued as we entered the ‘Evaluation’ phase. Complying with the legislation has been a significant undertaking, with over 60 substances in evaluation for toxicity, environmental toxicology and other aspects of chemical behavior. To support us in the process we have invested in additional resource to help complete the registration stage and begin the evaluation phase.
Managing the end of the Brexit transition period on 31 December 2020 was important to maintain our product safety program. It required us to transfer EU REACH (Registration, Evaluation, Authorization of Chemicals) registrations held under our UK legal entity to our legal entity in France. This process was completed before the end of year deadline. St Mihiel is now our only legal entity for EU REACH compliance. At the same time, we made the necessary preparations to ensure compliance with the new UK REACH regulations that came into force on 1 January 2021.
Resources were also directed towards completing all pre-registrations of substances imported into Turkey under KKDIK, the Turkish REACH program. These were completed before the 31 December 2020 deadline.
We continued with our program to review and update our existing European Union REACH (Registration, Evaluation, Authorization of Chemicals) registration dossiers in line with the European Chemical Industry Council (CEFIC) Dossier Improvement Plan. This is a legal requirement to review and update registrations with any new information and assess its impact on safety to workers, consumers and the environment. Over 50 registration dossiers were updated and resubmitted in 2020.
Responding quickly to requests from the European Chemical Agency (ECHA) for more information on our REACH registered substances is an integral part of the ongoing compliance checking and evaluation processes embodied within REACH. We take these obligations seriously.
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