REACh restrictions on a substance: check whether the use concerns you, find out what your obligations are

Source ANSES

Whether you're a manufacturer, an industrial user or a professional user, you use substances that may be subject to restrictions under the REACh regulation.

Two approaches are required: a mandatory one and an optional one.

The mandatory process

You need to check current and future restrictions, and if necessary apply them to your company.

What is a restriction under Regulation (EC) No. 1907/2006 (see REACh: Understanding the main principles and procedures)?

The restriction is described in Title VIII of REACh, including Article 67:

• The starting point is, on the basis of a risk assessment, the conclusion of inadequate risk control at Community level.

• Restriction is a legislative tool for totally or partially limiting the manufacture, use and/or marketing of a substance as such, in a mixture or in an article.

• A restriction can include any substance that is manufactured and/or imported, even at less than one tonne per year (i.e. even at a tonnage below the registration limit).

• But a restriction cannot include substances used in R&D without being placed on the market, isolated or non-isolated intermediates that remain on site, or applications covered by Directive 76/768/EEC on cosmetic products (which will be replaced by Regulation (EC) no. 1223/2009 from 2013).

• The list of restricted substances is given in Annex XVII. This list includes the restrictions laid down in Directive 76/769/EEC, and is updated as new restrictions are decided.

The optional approach

You may consider contributing before the adoption (see REACh Restriction Procedure: how to contribute before the adoption of the regulatory text) of the legal text in Annex XVII if you consider that certain specificities of your company are not taken into account.

Two examples of "company specificities" that can be taken into account in a restriction

• Risk management measures not taken into account in the risk assessment. Risks have been identified for workers or the environment, but your company has implemented risk management measures (containment, recycling, etc.) that reduce emissions.

• Difficulties in implementing substitution. In your company, you have already looked into the possibility of substituting one of your substances with another substance or another process. This experience has enabled you to identify the technical and/or economic difficulties...