The legislator: 'REACH has reversed the charge of proof to the industry'

摘要

It came from an assessment by the Commission that the old system (ie. the existing Substance Regulation - ESR) completely failed as only some hundreds of substances were assessed within the last 30 years. At this speed, it would have taken centuries to assess all the chemicals placed on the market. The main reason for this failure was the lack of resources from the authorities in charge of such assessment. Thus, REACH has reversed the charge of proof to the industry. Another reason was the political willingness to demonstrate that chemicals used in Europe are safe. REACH introduces more requirements to demonstrate the safety of chemicals and those chemicals that present a very hazardous profile (eg. carcinogen, mutagens, reproductive toxicant or PBT, vPvB) should be progressively phased out through the authorisation process. So, in this respect, REACH is the new legislative tool to produce/use safe materials and restore confidence in chemicals.