INTRODUCTION | LEGAL BACKGROUND | HISTORY OF THE LEGISLATION | BASIS OF REACH | EXEMPT MATERIALS | DEFINITIONS | PRE-REGISTRATION | SIEF FORMATION | SUBSTANCE SAMENESS | DATA EVALUATION | CONSIDERING NEW TESTING | THE EXPOSURE SCENARIO | RISK ASSESSMENT | COMMUNICATION |
REGISTRATION PROCESS | SPECIAL CASES | DOWNSTREAM USER OBLIGATIONS | AUTHORISATION AND RESTRICTION | AFTER REGISTRATION | ABBREVIATIONS

BASICS OF REACH

Registration is only required for those who manufacture or import > 1 tonne of a chemical substance or if an imported article deliberately releases a chemical at over 1 tonne. If chemicals are supplied from within the EU, the registration must be taken care of by the up-stream suppler and not the customer.

Non-EU manufacturers and producers can appoint EU-based individuals or organisations to be their ‘Only Representative’ OR to handle the registration process and to be the official legal entity. However, even if appointing an OR, much of the actual work of data evaluation, negotiation on a SIEF, preparation of registration documents etc. can be done by the non-EU manufacturer as long as the final registration is in the name of the official EU-based legal entity.

Tonnage bands and date of registration
Part of the pre-registration process involved predicting when you expect to register and the date depends on the tonnage band and whether the substance is officially considered R50/53 (very toxic and potentially persistent in the environment). If your predictions were wrong and tonnage is higher or lower than your predicted band, the registration date can be brought forward or put back accordingly.

The deadlines for full registration are outlined below:

30 November 2010 - 1000 tonnes and above, as well as CMR category 1 and 2 above 1 tonne/year and substances classified (R50/53) above 100 tonnes

31 May 2013 - 100 tonnes and more
31 May 2018 - 1 tonne and more