Of particular interest in this EETimes.com report is how REACH is still poorly understood by many companies:

A survey has thrown up major concerns that the recently adopted EU REACH (Registration, Evaluation and Authorization of Chemicals ) regulation will disrupt metal and chemical supply to the EU and this could start to cause major disruptions by the end of this year if importers do not begin to take action to deal with the regulation.

The worrying results of the survey, conducted by IPC Market Research, suggest that the majority of solder suppliers have very limited knowledge of the regulations. When asked about awareness and readiness for REACH compliance, most scored a 1 (none) in response to a 10 point scale.

This is a worrying and surprising statistic with less than 3 months for pre-registration under REACH, according to IPC.

Companies may not understand that the implications of not being REACH compliant could lead to exclusion from the EU market, thus resulting in inevitable interruptions in trade.

REACH is expected to impact every company within the EU, especially those depending on non-EU suppliers.

Click on the above link for the full story.