EC Adopts Fees Payable Under REACH

April 26, 2008 // Published as a news service by IHS

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On April 16, European Commission (EC) adopted the fees and charges that will apply to register and authorise chemicals under the new REACH (Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and restriction of Chemicals) legislation.

The fees and charges will apply to chemical substances that are being preregistered beginning June 1 (see IP/08/564).

The basic registration fee will range from €1,600 for substances produced in volumes below 10 tonnes, to €31,000 for those above 1,000 tonnes.

The fees and charges, which were approved last December by a committee of member state representatives for the European Union (EU), are payable to the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA).

The main fees and charges will be payable for the submission and update of registration dossiers and in connection with the submission of an authorisation request or a review report.

Other fees are payable for notification of certain research and development activities, certain confidentiality requests and for appeals against ECHA's decisions.

Günter Verheugen, EU vice president responsible for enterprise and industry policy, said, "With significant reductions of 90% for smaller companies in the chemical sector, we ensure that they continue to be competitive. We have set the foundations for a modern registration scheme which protects human health and the environment. Therefore it is time to seize the new business opportunities offered by REACH."

In order to keep the burden on small and medium-sized enterprises to a minimum, the EC applied a differentiated price policy between companies of different sizes. The following reductions for registration fees apply:

• 30% for medium-sized companies
• 60% for small companies
• 90% for micro enterprises

The level of the registration fees varies according to the tonnage range, and a reduction of 25% applies in the case of joint submissions to account for the reduced workload.

A lower registration fee has been fixed for the registration of intermediates because the associated workload for the ECHA would be much lower than for the other registration dossiers.

Fee revenue will partially finance the operations of ECHA, with the remaining finance coming from an European Community subsidy. The fees and charges will be published in the EU's Official Journal, and will be reviewed by 2013 at the latest.

Companies must register chemical substances under REACH
REACH requires that all substances manufactured or imported into the EU in quantities above one tonne per year be registered starting June 1. Extended registration deadlines apply if the substances have been preregistered (all so-called "phase-in substances" are eligible for preregistration).

Companies that want to benefit from staggered registration deadlines (2010, 2013, 2018) must preregister their chemical substances between June 1 and Dec. 1, 2008.

If manufacturers or importers of a chemical fail to preregister by Dec. 1, they cannot continue manufacturing or importing that chemical until they have submitted a registration dossier. Furthermore, users of chemicals cannot continue using substances that have not been preregistered or registered by their supplier.

Background
The main goals of REACH are to improve the protection of human health and the environment from the risks that can be posed by chemicals, promote alternative test methods, freely circulate substances on the internal market and enhance competitiveness and innovation (see MEMO/06/488).

ECHA's mission is to:

• Manage and carry out technical, scientific and administrative aspects of REACH.
• Ensure consistency in relation to these aspects throughout the EU.
• Provide the member states and the EU institutions with the best possible scientific and technical advice on questions relating to chemicals that fall under REACH.
• Manage IT-based guidance documents, tools and databases.
• Support national help desks and run its own help desk.
• Make information on chemicals publicly accessible.

For more information, see the FAQ on REACH preregistration (MEMO/08/240) and the ECHA web site.

Source: European Commission (EC).