More chemicals registered under REACH

A further 2,923 chemicals were registered with the European Chemicals Agency by the end of May as firms raced to meet the second REACH deadline

The preliminary figures from the agency reveal that it received 9,084 registration dossiers from 3,215 companies by the 31 May deadline under the EU REACH Regulation (1907/2007) for substances manufactured or imported in quantities of 100–1,000 tonnes a year.

The data covers so-called “phase-in” substances, meaning that they have been available in Europe since before 1 June 2008.

Since REACH was launched in 2008, a total of 6,598 substances have been registered. However, a report earlier this year from the European Commission found that many dossiers containing technical and safety information did not comply with the rules and that registrants often failed to effectively assess the bioaccumulative and toxic properties of chemicals.

The Helsinki-based body says it will now check the latest registration dossiers and produce a final list of substances by early September.

The agency has also added six substances – cadmium; cadmium oxide; ammonium pentadecafluorooctanoate (APFO); pentadecafluorooctanoic acid (PFOA); dipentyl phthalate (DPP); and 4-nonylphenol, branched and linear, ethoxylated – to the REACH candidate list, bringing the total to 144.

The move follows agreement by the agency’s member state committee that all six chemicals are substances of very high concern.

Inclusion of a substance in the candidate list imposes wide-ranging legal obligations on those companies manufacturing, importing or using them.