Cost of Reach shoots up

28 August 2006 00:00 [Source: ICB]

The European Commission's draft budget for the European Chemicals Agency has indicated that the cost of Reach to business looks set to be higher than originally estimated.

In some cases, the costs are now four or five times higher than those first mooted back in October 2003, according to the British Chemical Distributors and Traders Association (BCDTA).

The increases relate to the fees that registrants will have to pay according on the tonnage band that the production of chemical falls into.

There are a small number of reductions that will benefit small to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) that are part of consortia.

According to a Commission document it is estimated that, in addition to a subsidy of €15.4m in 2007, the net requirement for the Chemicals Agency in Helsinki, Finland, for the years 2008 and 2009 will be about €80m.

The budget includes the developing of a computerised database, staff recruitment and training.

The Commission notes that the Agency in Helsinki incurs higher costs as there are 'no synergies with existing institutions'.

'Though the Commission is at pains to point out that the draft budget is only one hypothesis and is therefore provisional, the order of magnitude of the numbers involved will be of major concern to SMEs,' said Melvyn Whyte, chairman of the BCDTA Reach Task Force.

'The increase is indefensible and makes a nonsense of the pious noises made by politicians and Commission officials about preserving the competitiveness of one of Europe's most successful industries,' Whyte added.

BDCTA analysis of fees payable

Full base feeConsortium participants
Tonnage category	New budget	Old budget	Increase, €	Increase %	New budget	Old budget	Increase, €	Increase %
1 to 10	1200	400	800	200	804	400	404	101
>10 to 100	3257	400	2857	714	2182	400	1782	446
>100 to 1000	8842	8000	842	11	5924	8000	-2076	-26
>1000	24000	8000	16000	200	16080	8000	8080	101
SMEsSMEs in consortium
Tonnage category	New budget	Old budget	Increase, €	Increase, %	New budget	Old budget	Increase, €	Increase %
1 to 10	900	400	500	125	504	400	104	26
>10 to 100	2443	400	2043	511	1368	400	968	242
>100 to 1000	6631	8000	-1369	-17	3714	8000	-4286	-54
>1000	18000	8000	10000	125	10080	8000	2080	26Source: BCDTA

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