Manufacturingtalk.com discusses the potential costs of REACH compliance:
The most radical change to affect the European chemical industry in twenty years arrives on June 1st 2007. The estimated cost to the industry over eleven years to complete the exercise is EUR 2.3 billion! It comes as a direct result of European Parliament legislation called Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals. (REACH) Part of the intention is to standardise the current broad range of EU Directives and regulations, together with existing and confusing rules for ‘existing’ and ‘new’ chemicals.
A single system will be created for both.
The two most important aims are to improve protection of human health and the environment from the risk of chemicals while enhancing the competitiveness of the EU chemicals industry.
Inevitably there becomes a need to create an agency to oversee REACH and this will be the European Chemical Agency. (ECHA).
The surprising choice for its location is Helsinki, Finland, and the European Commissions original budget for the agency was EUR 359 million.
This estimate has more recently increased to EUR 1,189 million.
Yes, a further EUR 829 million, which represents an increase of 230%! As if that were not bad enough the cost of a small firm registering an individual product in the 10-100 tonnes category rises more than 500% from EUR 400 to EUR 2443.
Registering a product in the 1-10 tonnes category rises from EUR 400 Euro to EUR 900.
See the full article REACH will effect chemicals prices
