Companies urged to pre-register chemicals

The European commission (EC) has urged businesses to pre-register the chemicals they use with the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA)

From June 1st to December 1st, companies must provide information concerning the health and safety of chemicals under the European Union's Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and restriction of Chemicals (Reach) legislation.

All companies which import a tonne or more of chemical substances must pre-register with the ECHA if they wish to continue doing so uninterrupted.

Stavros Dimas, commissioner for the environment and European commissioner for enterprise and industry Gunter Verheugen, said: "Reach is the most ambitious chemicals legislation in the world.

"It will enable us to drastically increase our knowledge on the use of chemicals and to use them safely, thus protecting human health and the environment."

The EC has made the plea in the belief that businesses may be unaware of how Reach may affect them and warned that those who do not pre-register by the deadline that they will be unable to import until they have done so.

Reach came into force in June 2007 and requires businesses involved in the manufacture and import and export of chemicals to manage any risks they could pose to health and safety.