EU directive to take small chemical firms by suprise

The whole process is particularly expensive, as it requires in-depth tests on human health and the environment, as well as drafting technical documentation of the production process. "Growth of costs for the largest enterprises will reach 2%, but in case of small companies it could begin from 12% and reach over 20%. We had a case where it will reach 80%," said Andrzej Krześlak, REACH expert at the Industrial Chemistry Institute (IChP). He admitted that for many small enterprises implementation of the REACH directive will cause them to cease production or imports, as the regulation also concerns substances purchased from outside the EU. A preliminary and free-of-charge registration stage will commence on 1 June and end on 1 December 2008. This will enable spreading the costs related to the actual registration process over a few years, even up to 2018, but if a company omits the preliminary registration it will either face actual registration or be forced to cease production in 2009. The problem is, a few thousand companies do not even know the directive is coming to power. (Rzeczpospolita, pp. B1, B9) M.M.