INSIGHT: US moving late to counter Reach

30 March 2008 23:51  [Source: ICIS news]

By Nigel Davis

SAN ANTONIO, Texas (ICIS news)--Sellers of chemicals in Europe are running to catch the regulatory juggernaut that is Reach. Some will hitch their ride. It is not clear yet who will be crushed under its wheels.

US chemical producers woke up to the implications of the new registration and authorisation procedures years ago but now see a regulatory juggernaut of their own looming over the horizon.

What if Reach, and the precautionary principle that underlines it becomes de facto the global standard? America’s industry is developing a chemicals regulation system of its own. But can Champ (chemical assessment and management programme) prevail at a time of political change? And can the industry mobilise its resources effectively to see that it does so?

The European chemical industry was notoriously slow when it came to Reach. The EU's new chemicals policy proposals first caught the eye of Dow Chemical when they surfaced in the European Commission’s environmental directorate.

In its defence it could be said that few then could envisage how far-reaching Reach might be. The sector fought its corner, but from an initially weak position. Important concessions were won. Yet the process showed how vulnerable commerce is in the face of a new-found environmental zeal.

The US is not devoid of environmental zealots but its policy makers have proved to be more open to the economic argument. The risk is that the political landscape might change, and soon, to put the industry under increasing detrimental regulatory pressure.

The industry just needs to do a better job

“We’re entering the [US] political season and we need to make sure everyone understands how the wrong policies can destroy the industry,” National Petrochemical and Refiners Association (NPRA) president Charles Drevna said prior to this year’s International Petrochemical Conference (IPC).

The sector will use this year’s conference to home in on regulatory issues.

Senior executives of about 70 US chemical companies will meet a top US environmental official to map strategy for Champ here on Monday. The tiered, risk-based assessment programme was created by the August 2007 Montebello Agreement between the US, Canada and Mexico.

The industry is running to a tight deadline. Reach pre-registration begins this June and runs to the end of the year before the regulation comes into full force. The US national government is due to change in January.

Chemicals is not so much running to the wire as being put on its mettle to explain – yet again – the way it enables modern living. The Champ programme has been put together seemingly at the last minute to try to head off the possibly more widespread and increasingly global adoption of Reach-like legislation.

Reach will have an impact not simply on the chemicals sector but most businesses that use chemicals.

It worries the US industry, and broader manufacturing, and an industry-drafted framework for implementing Champ could be presented to the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) as early as May.

What Champ has to do, however, is offer a politically creditable alternative to Reach. The EU legislation was popular because it brings chemicals under publicly visible control for the first time. Firmly based on the ‘precautionary principle’ it is part of the EU’s drive for sustainable development.

Such an approach may not sit well in a North American context but a US Reach-style programme has attracted support from Democrat leaders.

“It is real important to get this programme institutionalized against the possibility that a new administration might try to scrap it before it becomes viable,” Jim Cooper, NPRA director of petrochemicals said on Saturday.

The US chemical industry has decided, possibly too late, to move fast to do something about Reach.

By: Nigel Davis
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