CFATS isn't the only wide-ranging new regulation that chemical manufacturers must be concerned about. The European Union is phasing in regulations, known as Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals (REACH), that will require chemical manufacturers and many of their customers to register the chemicals that they produce or use, evaluate those chemicals, and, in some cases, receive EU authorization to continue using them. The EU launched REACH officially in June with the creation of a new agency, the European Chemicals Agency. Manufacturers are required to begin registering chemicals by Dec. I, 2008. The EU has estimated that, over the next 11 years, REACH will require manufacturers to register their use of some 30,000 chemicals.
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