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1 posts from August 2007

August 19, 2007

REACH

NEW REGULATORY ERA IN EUROPE BEGINS: By the beginning of June, the shouting that had surrounded the rollout of the European Union's REACH chemicals regulatory program was all over. That's when the agency that willEcha administer it -- the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) -- opened its doors in Helsinki, Finland. ECHA aims to provide a window on the chemical regulation process.REACH, which stands for Registration, Evaluation & Authorization of Chemicals, will standardize chemicals regulation throughout the 27-member EU. An estimated 30,000 chemicals and compounds will be affected, at an expected total cost of about $3 billion to the European chemical industry over the next 11 years. Geert Dancet, ECHA's acting executive director, on temporary assignment from the European Commission in Brussels, acknowledges the challenges in setting up what will be one of the most powerful agencies in Europe. He points out that ECHA "is one of the few agencies in the EU with the power to make binding decisions." ECHA is hiring, Dancet says. From about 20 people today, the staff is expected to REACH 100 at the end of the year and to double that level next year. By the time the agency's work is in full swing, he adds, some 450 staffers are expected to be employed at its headquarters in central Helsinki. The agency's budget for its launch year is $20 million. That will increase, Dancet says, over the next 15 years to a working maximum of about $100 million annually. ECHA will be funded mostly by fees paid by industry, with a small balance covered by the EU. Chemical & Engineering News, 08/13/07, pp. 33-35.

 




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