Overview
The Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals regulations (REACH) came into force in the UK on the 1st June 2007. REACH aims to ensure that the risks posed by the use of chemicals are assessed, documented, minimised and communicated, and that unsafe substances are replaced with safe substances.
It places the responsibility for assessing chemicals with manufacturers and importers, under the aegis of the newly created European Chemicals Agency, and tasks users with ensuring that they inform upstream suppliers about the uses of chemicals and pass relevant information downstream to other users.