Using, manufacturing and importing chemicals

If you use, supply or manufacture chemical substances, or import them from outside the European Union (EU), you must comply with the REACH (Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and restriction of Chemicals) Regulation.

The UK REACH Competent Authority is hosted by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE).

REACH applies to a wide range of chemical substances and chemicals in preparations or mixtures and articles.

Preparations or mixtures include:

coatings eg paints, varnishes or enamels
pigments, dyes or inks
cleaning products
photograph processing chemicals
chemicals used to produce manmade fibres.

REACH also applies to chemical substances contained in finished products or articles, whether you are manufacturing or supplying them within the EU, or importing them from outside the EU.

UK REACH Competent Authority: What REACH means for EU importers (Adobe PDF - 221KB)
UK REACH Competent Authority: REACH guidance on articles (Adobe PDF - 110KB)

Exempt substances

Some chemical substances are partially or completely exempt from REACH. See the UK REACH Competent Authority guidance for further information about exemptions. Be aware that exemptions may change.

UK REACH Competent Authority: REACH - exemptions (Adobe PDF - 123KB)

Chemical substances inventory

You should make an inventory or list of chemical substances that your business uses, supplies, manufactures or imports. This will help you understand your responsibilities, what you need to do and the impact REACH will have on your business activities.

UK REACH Competent Authority: Creating an inventory for downstream users of chemicals including formulators (Adobe PDF - 111KB)

Chemical manufacturers and importers' requirements

If you manufacture or import into the EU one tonne or more of a chemical substance in a calendar year and it is not exempt, you must register the substance with the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA).

The deadline for registering depends on the type of substance and the quantities you are manufacturing or importing.

You may be able to benefit from phased registration, but your substances need to be pre-registered.

REACH registration

If you pre-registered with ECHA as a chemical manufacturer or importer before 1 December 2008, you must fully register by the relevant key deadline.

The first full registration deadline was 1 December 2010 for any chemicals you manufacture or import in quantities of:

1,000 tonnes or more per year or
100 tonnes or more if the chemical is considered very toxic to aquatic organisms or
one tonne or more if the substance is carcinogenic, mutagenic or is a reproductive toxin.

You will need to register by:

1 June 2013, if you manufacture or import 100 tonnes or more per year of any chemical substance
1 June 2018, if you manufacture or import one tonne or more per year of any chemical substance.

ECHA has a website for registering chemicals online. You can also submit data and other information.

ECHA:REACH-IT

If you manufacture or import into the EU more than 10 tonnes of a chemical substance in a year, you may need to carry out a chemical safety assessment. You must produce a chemical safety report to show the results of your assessment. You must submit this report to ECHA as part of your registration application.

ECHA: Information requirements and chemical safety assessments (Adobe PDF - 303KB)

Pre-registering phase-in substances

You should have pre-registered all your phase-in substances by 1 December 2008. If you missed this pre-registration deadline for your phase-in substance, you cannot continue to produce or import the substance until you have registered it with ECHA.

A phase-in substance is a substance:

listed in the European Inventory of Existing Commercial Chemical Substances (EINECS)
that has been manufactured in, or imported into the EU at least once since 1995.

For a full definition of a phase-in substance see the UK REACH Competent Authority guidance.

UK REACH Competent Authority: Pre-registration

If you start to manufacture or import into the EU one tonne or more of a phase-in substance in a calendar year for the first time, you can make a late pre-registration with the ECHA.

ECHA:REACH-IT

If you need to make a late pre-registration, you must do this:

no more than six months after you begin to manufacture or import the substance and
at least one year before ECHA registration deadline for the quantity and type of your chemical.

When the full registration deadline for your type and quantity of the chemical is less than one year away, you will not be able to submit a late pre-registration. You will have to register the chemical in full. It is too late to pre-register any substances that had a 2010 full registration deadline.

UK REACH Competent Authority: REACH pre-registration - what do I need to do?

ECHA has produced a questions and answers document covering pre-registration.

ECHA: REACH pre-registration - Questions and answers (Adobe PDF - 1.45MB)

Registering non phase-in or new substances

A non phase-in or new substance under REACH is one that doesn’t meet the criteria for a phase-in substance.

The first time you manufacture or import one tonne or more of a new or non phase-in chemical substance within a calendar year, you must register before you start to manufacture or import the substances.

ECHA: Guidance on registration (Adobe PDF - 1.36MB)

Substance Information Exchange Forums

Substance Information Exchange Forums (SIEFs) have been created under REACH, so that businesses that have pre-registered the same chemical can share information. You will be able to use SIEFs to make joint registrations. You are automatically added to a SIEF when you pre-register.

UK REACH Competent Authority: Substance Information Exchange Forum (SIEF) (Adobe PDF - 111KB)
ECHA: Substance Information Exchange Forum

Classifying and labelling chemicals

If you manufacture or supply chemical substances, products or mixtures you must classify and label them according to the CHIP Regulations (Chemicals (Hazard Information and Packaging for Supply) Regulations) before you put them on the market.

Classifying and labelling chemicals

Chemical retailers and distributors' requirements

If you are a chemical retailer or distributor you also have responsibilities under REACH.

You must provide your customers with a safety data sheet with information on the substances you supply.

You must not supply a substance that has not been pre-registered or registered if the substance needs to be.

UK REACH Competent Authority: The distributors role in REACH (Adobe PDF - 96KB)

Chemicals users' requirements

You are a chemical user if as a part of your work you:

use any chemicals or preparations
formulate or blend chemical preparations or mixtures
use any chemicals, preparations or mixtures to produce articles.

If you use a chemical substance you must make sure that you:

identify and follow all appropriate safety measures identified by the chemical's safety data sheet, if required
use the substance within its safe exposure limits
comply with any restrictions or conditions of authorisation that have been placed on its use.

UK REACH Competent Authority: What REACH means for users of chemicals (Adobe PDF - 63KB)

Information on chemicals use

You should check that your suppliers register all the ways you use the chemicals they supply. This is to make sure that your supply of chemicals will not be disrupted. This may not be necessary if you only use the chemical in the way your supplier intended.

If you have an unusual use for a substance, you should provide your suppliers with details of how you intend to use the chemical. This will allow them to include this information in their registration.

You can choose not to give your suppliers this information if you feel it will compromise your business. In this case you must carry out your own chemical safety assessment. You will normally have to provide this information to the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) and any final users of the chemical.

ECHA: Chemical safety assessment and report
ECHA: Guidance in a nutshell - chemical safety assessment (Adobe PDF - 173KB)

Restricted chemicals

REACH places restrictions on the marketing and use of certain chemical substances on their own or in preparations. These include substances that are classified as persistent, bioaccumulative and toxic (PBT) in the environment.

There are two groups of chemicals:

substances of very high concern (SVHCs) and Annex XIV (14) substances that require an authorisation for their use
Annex XVII (17) substances whose marketing and use is restricted.

A substance can appear in both groups.

Chemicals requiring authorisation

REACH identifies substances with known high risks to human health or the environment as substances of very high concern (SVHCs) and Annex XIV substances. ECHA has produced a proposed candidate list of possible substances of very high concern and a recommended list of substances to be included in Annex XIV.

ECHA: Candidate list of substances of very high concern for authorisation
ECHA: Annex XIV recommendations

If you supply an article containing a substance on the SVHC candidate list or Annex XIV you must give recipients information on the substance and how to use it safely.

If you supply a substance on its own or in a preparation or mixture you must provide recipients and customers with a safety data sheet.

Depending on which substance you supply and the amount you supply, you may also need to:

submit a notification to ECHA by June 2011
get an authorisation for specific uses for that substance if it appears in Annex XIV.

The UK REACH competent authority has produced guidance on substances that require an authorisation.

UK REACH Competent Authority: Substances of very high concern (Adobe PDF - 94 KB)

Annex XVII substances

Annex XVII of REACH contains a list of restricted chemicals with the associated restrictions and concentration limits. More chemicals and restrictions may be added in the future.

Restricted chemicals include:

lead carbonates
lead sulphates
benzene
pentachlorophenol
nonylphenol and its ethoxylates
cadmium
hexachloroethane
creosote
compounds containing mercury and arsenic.

Annex XVII of REACH is subject to change, you should check it regularly to keep up to date with restrictions on the chemicals you are involved with.

Use the European Union law database and search using the terms ‘REACH’ with ‘Annex XVII’ (Options: Title).

European Union: EUR-Lex database

If a chemical is listed in Annex XVII you must not:

market or use the chemical for the restrictions outlined
market or use any substances, preparations or article containing the chemical for the restrictions outlined
allow or cause anyone else to break the rules of a restriction.

Annex XVII chemicals are restricted to protect:

workers
consumers
the environment.

Enforcement of REACH

Different regulators enforce REACH depending on the chemical, your business type and part of the UK you operate in. To check, contact the HSE to find out which regulator you need to speak to.

Health and Safety Executive: REACH helpdesk
UK REACH Competent Authority: Enforcement