US sees Reach as death knell for EU chemicals

18 March 2008 17:17  [Source: ICIS news]

BALTIMORE, Maryland (ICIS news)--US industry leaders continued to challenge the Reach programme on Tuesday, charging that the EU chemicals control plan could signal the end of the European chemicals industry.

 

Joe Acker, president of the Synthetic Organic Chemical Manufacturers Association (SOCMA) told an industry conference that “there are significant questions about the impact of Reach on business and what benefit it will have” for the environment.

 

Speaking at the annual GlobalChem conference on international chemicals regulations, Acker also charged that the EU programme for the registration, evaluation and authorisation of chemicals (Reach) may expose US chemical industry trade secrets.

 

“We have ongoing concerns about data security within Reach for the information that US companies will have to provide,” Acker said.

 

Even though the Reach programme is already in force and its first deadlines for registration of chemicals and derivative or component products are near, the US chemicals sector continues to rail against what it sees as a massive regulatory threat to innovation and trade.

 

Acker said that the Reach programme could have profound impact on business and commerce, and that a perceived short-term advantage that European companies might enjoy under Reach could prove to be their undoing in the end.

 

“We see a question about whether Reach will give a competitive edge to European chemicals manufacturers, or perhaps mark the beginning of the end of European chemicals,” Acker said.

 

Acker said that if the US chemicals industry is to survive the negative impacts of Reach, US manufacturers must give their support to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) as it works to advance an alternative, US-led chemicals control plan called Champ (chemicals assessment and management programme).

 

Champ is the new North American chemicals management plan hatched by the US, Canada and Mexico at the tripartite meeting in Montebello, Quebec, in August last year.

 

The Champ plan, also known as the Montebello Agreement, was widely welcomed by the US chemicals industry.

 

“The Montebello agreement is a constructive alternative to Reach, and it will enable EPA to do a better and faster job of chemicals control,” Acker said.

 

“For US chemicals to survive Reach the EPA will need our support,” Acker said.

 

A coalition of US chemical trade groups will soon appeal to the US Congress for special accelerated and expanded funding for EPA so the agency can speed implementation of Champ as a potential global alternative to Reach.

 

Cosponsored by SOCMA and the American Chemistry Council (ACC), the three-day GlobalChem conference continues through Wednesday.

By: Joe Kamalick
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