Whether the chemical substance you manufacture or import for a tonnage between 1 and 100 tpy (tons per year), has already been registered or not, your SME will either become a Lead Registrant or a Member registrant. Janet Greenwood of the UK Chemical Regulations Self Help Group expresses her concerns about the REACH registration for these two scenarios in an interview with ECHA.
Potential difficulties for the SME Member Registrant
Unfair cost-sharing practices
The unfair cost-sharing practices of some Lead Registrants burden the SMEs
Janet Greenwood noticed that some Lead Registrants seem to ignore ECHA’s guidance on cost-sharing practices. In addition, some of them follow unfair cost-sharing policies by raising prices for the lower tonnage band and diminishing the ones for the higher tonnage band. She highlights the need of a fair, transparent and non-discriminatory cost-sharing practice for SMEs.
These malpractices may be due to a REACH loophole
According to Janet Greenwood, the REACH regulation has a bias on costs. “"Even where cost sharing is carried out as fairly as possible, the cost per kilo of REACH data is higher for lower tonnage bands than for higher tonnage bands.” Most SMEs work with lower tonnage bands and are therefore affected by this imbalance.
The European Commission and ECHA seem to have recognized that this bias in the cost related to data acquisition could also apply to ECHA’s registration fees. This could be one of the reasons why they’ve decided to offer discounts for SMEs
Limited laboratory capacities
The costs to conduct tests for the registration and the potential overflow of tests in laboratories due to numerous companies, who need to run tests before the 2018 deadline, are issues as well.
Indeed, for a least one of the standard tests for the 1-100 tpy band, the labs are already overflown. These problems will certainly occur for other tests as the 31 May 2018 deadline approaches.
Eventually, testing costs for testing substance sameness are very high, especially if you have a non-standard substance that requires extra tests.
Missing Lead Registrants
SMEs’ registration process can be hijacked by Lead Registrants who don’t follow the REACH regulation. Janet Greenwood witnessed some cases where the company states it will register the substance as a Lead Registrant but has no real intention to do so. Plus sometimes the Lead Registrant can be trustworthy, but is unable to give an estimate of the Letter of Access’ cost.
Letter of Access’ cost
The Letter of Access (LoA) plays a major role in the data-sharing process and results from the core REACH principle of “one substance, one registration”. It’s the document which enables the companies who want to submit a dossier, for an already registered substance, to join the corresponding SIEF and share their data.
This document is very important for SMEs, especially when they have a wide range of products, and therefore lots of REACH registrations to budget. This cost policy could lead companies to reduce their range of products, change their strategy to import or manufacture less than a ton of substance per year, or even close their business.
Janet Greenwood remarks that finally it could reduce both the number of available chemical substances and the number of suppliers on the market.
What ECHA could do to remedy the situation
The UK Chemical Regulations Self Help Group thinks ECHA could be more active on cost-sharing policies and the implementation of best practices instead of just waiting for an appeal. For instance, suggesting standard cost-sharing practices or publishing more content on best practices are options ECHA could pursue.
However, these tasks are difficult to implement because they aren’t in the mission framework of ECHA as defined in REACH.
5 essential steps for your REACH 2018 registration
Janet Greenwood advises all SMEs to follow these 5 steps:
1. Start registering now
REACH registration process is long and expensive. Lots of SMEs think they still have enough time left until the deadline. But in 2017, the experienced consultants and test laboratories will be overworked…
As a Lead Registrant or Member Registrant, draft a list of your substances which are restricted under REACH and anticipate the tonnage band you'll need to register in.
2. Contact your Lead Registrant
Negotiate the LoA cost with your Lead Registrant for all the substances you wish to register. If there is no Lead Registrant for a critical substance for your business, consider taking up that role yourself.
3. Work with substances you can afford
Once you know the cost of your Letter(s) of Access, you’ll have to decide if you can afford it (them). If you disagree with the cost, negotiate with your Lead registrant. If you think these costs are unfair, discriminatory or that there is a lack of transparency, you can consider appealing to ECHA.
4. Get your substances tested!
When you know which substances you want to register, try to get your substances tested as soon as possible: labs and consultants will be fully booked when the deadline comes.
5. Anticipate your REACH registration
Why don’t you register before 2018? It will allow you to spread the cash flow burden, and it will be less stressful than trying to “beat the deadline”.
NB: if you want to know more about Janet Greenwood’s interview, please consult ECHA’s website.
