REACHREACH, the current EU legislation for the Registration, Evaluation and Authorisation of Chemicals (Regulation (EC) No. 1907/2006) came into effect on June 1st 2007. The most important objectives of REACH are the improved protection of human health and the environment from the risks associated with chemical substances. At the same time, the intention is to strengthen the competitiveness with the EU. There is a general duty to register all chemical substances, which are put on the EU market, according to the principle: NO DATA - NO MARKET: Manufacturers and importers of existing chemicals, which have already been on the market, can benefit from transitional periods for final registration up to 11 years by pre-registration of the substances. The pre-registration period of 6 months ended December 1, 2008. Without registration new substances may not been manufactured or imported into the EU in quantities exceeding 1 tonne/year. This applies to substances on their own, but also in preparations and - certain cases - also in articles. Substances of Very High Concern (SVHC) are subject to authorization, because the hazards of SVHC on human life and the environment can be serious and are sometimes irreversible. The authorisation will only be granted if the applicant is able to provide proof that the risks can be sufficiently controlled during the use of the substance.
FUCHS Objectives REACH shall not have any negative impact on our products to ensure they will continue to be available under REACH without any REACH-induced changes in product characteristics or quality. FUCHS will maintain timely, intensive, open and fair communication with all up-stream and down-stream partners in the supply chain, to ensure we will fully meet our legal obligations on time. Current Status of implementation: Thus we have reached the first milestone in the implementation of REACH: Our products will continue to be available under REACH without any REACH induced changes in product characteristics or quality. So what are the next steps? Uses of FUCHS products The registration of a substance also includes all uses during the complete life cycle and the associated exposure scenarios as well as the recommended operational conditions and the risk management measures for a safe use. After registration the substance may only be used in identified and registered uses. If a downstream user recognizes that his use is not covered by the registration he can either notify the manufacturer or importer of this use asking him to include this use in their registration or register the use himself. In any case this will cause additional costs and efforts. Therefore we would like to gather all information on uses in our supply chain and ensure they will be covered in the registration. The so-called "Use Descriptor System" has been developed In order to standardize and simplify the communication in the supply chain. The Use Descriptor System consists of 5 main elements:
You can find a comprehensive overview of the various use descriptors in English and German (Translation according to BDI Standard Phrase Table) following this link: Use Descriptor System.pdf In order to minimize the efforts for our customers we have mapped typical uses of FUCHS products according to the use descriptor model. Please click on the following link to find the list of FUCHS products and their typical uses. (FUCHS Product usage allocation.xls) In the left column you can find the product names or product groups. Please click on the little arrow in the first row of the column to get a selection list of all products. Under "user defined" you can also search by product name or part of a product name. If your use is not covered or not covered adequately, please contact us as soon as possible. If we do not get any feedback from your side, we will assume your use has been adequately described. You need further information? We are also happy to answer your questions directly. Please do not hesitate to contact us: Fuchs Lubricants (UK) plc |
