Take Reach global urges Arkema's Le Hénaff

27 October 2005 11:05  [Source: ICIS news]

SHANGHAI (ICIS news)--The European Union's (EU's) proposed new chemicals policy Reach will have a detrimental impact on the competitiveness of European producers unless it is implemented globally, Thierry Le Hénaff, president and chief executive of Arkema, said on Wednesday.

"We think Reach is good for the EU but it must be developed worldwide as it impacts on the competitiveness of European companies. Everyone should have the same level of constraint," head of the vinyls to performance chemicals subsidiary of French energy and petrochemicals group Total, declared.

"We are involved in 370 substances and we are supporting Reach to make the law relevant," Le Hénaff added. "We will focus on evaluation to establish the reality of the risks but we believe the findings should be published," he said.

Reach (the registration, evaluation and authorisation of chemicals) involves an initial registration phase and then evaluation of the safety and environmental data available on many thousands of chemicals produced by the chemical industry. 

So far, Reach proposals have been vehemently rejected by the US and the original draft regulation closely scrutinised by other nations. The proposals will be debated in a plenary session of the European parliament in November.

Reach may suit Europe but there are doubts whether the regulatory framework would be acceptable globally. The United Nations is currently considering a new global regulatory system for chemicals known as the Strategic Approach to International Chemicals Management (SAICM). According to John Buccini, chemicals director for the UN Environmental Program (UNEP), Reach is too closely tailored to the EU for global application.

By: Michael Gordon
+44 20 8652 3214

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