The REACH regulations entered force throughout the European Union on 1 June 2007. They represent the most major upheaval in the regulatory environment for chemicals for over 25 years. REACH applies not only to chemical manufacturers and importers, it also has major implications for the electrical products sector. ERA provides expert advice on what these implications are and how to respond.

REACH - a brief guide

What is REACH?
REACH harmonises the regulatory environment for virtually all uses of chemicals used in the EU. As such about 30,000 chemicals will require to be subject to much more rigorous assessment as will all new chemicals.

Doesn’t REACH just apply to chemical manufacturers and distributors? No, while manufacturers and importers will certainly shoulder much of the burden, REACH is based on the principle of producer responsibility. This responsibility extends to all parts of the supply chain including:
	manufacturers of products (known as “articles” by REACH)
	users of chemicals (known as “downstream users”)
	distributors of products and chemicals

REACH applies to ALL chemicals and products sold, made, imported or used in the EU. Many of the 30,000 chemicals affected are used in electrical and engineering products.

What obligations apply to electrical producers and their supply chain?
Typically this will include changes to the procedures for using chemicals, increased restrictions on how they are used and obligations to pass information to suppliers and clients. In some cases, failure to act may result in unforeseen withdrawal of chemicals or prosecution by authorities.

The diagram below summarises the timeline for regulation of substances. Although it stretches out to 2018 already some niche materials are being removed from the market.

How can ERA help?
ERA not only understands the new REACH requirements but also how they apply specifically to the product sector. Where and how chemicals are used in products, what is seen to be hazardous, what is likely to be restricted, what requirements arise as a result? ERA can help you answer all these questions and help you formulate an action plan to minimise business risk.

ERA can help in the following ways:
	direct consultancy on specific issues, business review and recommended action reports, provide an understanding of the chemicals that are used in production process, audit chemical processes
	public training courses from ERA and industry experts
	bespoke in-house training courses
	ERA’s bimonthly newsletter RE4view covering all environmental regulation worldwide pertaining to the electrical products sector including REACH

All of these can be provided on an individual or call off contract basis or through our subscriber scheme, AccessERA.

ERA’s credentials
ERA’s reliability and failure analysis group (RFA) has been helping industry solve product related problems for over 40 years. Over this period ERA has developed extensive knowledge of component and sub system design, materials and processing. ERA is a also a longstanding provider of regulatory compliance support (e.g. EMC and safety) and, together, these two capabilities have enabled us to help industry, government and the European Commission with many technical aspects of environmental regulation related to the use of materials in products. Initially this was applied to restricted substances (RoHS Directive) and end-of-life (WEEE Directive) but now extends to the growing field of substance restrictions and environmental requirements such as REACH, eco-design (EuP Directive) and similar developments worldwide.