New European disclosure law shifts 'burden of proof' to industry

[Karl]

Greenwire, 23 June 2008 –

The chemical industry is scrambling to comply with a sweeping new European Union law requiring manufacturers to provide detailed information about their products and their effects on the environment and health.

"You have a very dramatic reform in chemical policy taking place in the seat of the largest proportion of the global chemical market," said Richard Denison, senior scientist at the Environmental Defense Fund, an advocacy group. "That is going to have a huge impact on the global chemical arena."

The law -- Registration, Evaluation and Authorization of Chemicals, or REACH -- was enacted last year, and its requirements are just starting to affect European chemical manufacturers and importers. What happens in Europe is important because the continent's chemical trade accounts for about 40 percent of the global market, with 27 countries and nearly half a billion people.

"REACH has a potential impact outside the E.U. -- it doesn't stop at the borders," said Walter van het Hof, spokesman for Dow Chemical. REACH requires companies to register chemicals manufactured in or imported into Europe. They must include detailed information about the chemical and whether it accumulates in the environment. "It's using the concept of 'no data, no market,'" Denison said. "REACH has acknowledged that there are tens of thousands of chemicals in commerce that have never been assessed or tested. It recognized that the legacy of old chemical policy needed to be tackled and addressed."

The registration system stipulates that as a condition for being in the market, there must be at least a minimum amount of data available in the public domain. Companies must preregister between June 1 and Dec. 1, meaning they have to turn in basic information on chemicals. If a company fails to meet this first deadline, it will not be allowed to sell its wares. Over the next decade, further requirements will be rolled out, giving smaller companies more time than bigger companies to meet the new regulations.

Full Article: World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD)

[Corey]

finally some good news.

I can see one catch How do you enforce it on immoral Lieing companies that already plague the system??

They can simply withhold information thats damaging to their products under the process and patent secrecy clause. Thus a massive loophole you can fit a planet through.....

Who going to verify that the companies are staying honest? that means having people doing their own research in order to verify the information provided by the companies thus this takes many years of round the clock research.

If this system had been in place from the start I would be ecstatic but that is not reality.

This reminds me of the carbon trade..............