Collapsing Reach IT will kill chem firms - producer

04 November 2008 17:23  [Source: ICIS news]

LONDON (ICIS news)--European chemical companies will be forced out of business at the end of November as constant crashes at the EU’s Reach regulation website prevents them from meeting a pre-registration deadline, a leading UK distributor said on Tuesday.

 

Melvyn Whyte, chairman of Whyte Chemicals said that his company, and many others, will be unable to pre-register all the substances it sells, leaving them with no choice but to remove the substances from the market or pay a full registration fee.

 

The additional costs caused by the situation would occur as the industry was entering a financial downturn, Whyte said in a letter sent on Tuesday to Gunter Verheugen, European Commissioner for enterprise and industry.

 

Whyte said that the situation would force many chemical companies out of business.

 

Under Reach, anyone selling chemicals in the EU must pre-register all substances by the end of November. This process is free and allows companies to continue trading chemicals before they are fully registered.

 

However, companies that fail to pre-register substances by the end of November must pay a substantial fee.

 

Whyte estimated the basic fee payable per product for full Reach registration to be €20,000-24,000. However, a dossier of information on each substance must also be submitted, costing up to €300,000 ($379,000). This fee is shared between members of consortia registering the same product. 

 

A  member of staff at Whyte Chemicals had been preregistering constantly since the dedicated Reach-IT platform had opened, Whyte said. As the site got busier, it got slower and crashed more regularly. “He was only able to pre-register 25 products during the course of last week. We have around 1,000 products to preregister and at this rate we will not be able to meet the deadline and our market for these products will be lost,” he added.

 

Whyte warned that Europe’s economic downturn could be worsened as a result of chemicals no longer being on the market: “Every manufacturing process uses chemicals to some extent and these businesses will also suffer when these substances are forced from the market. The cumulative impact on European business could be to plunge us further into recession.”

 

He said the European Chemicals Agency was aware of the problem but was unable to extend the preregistration period “as this requires a political decision.” UK trade association the Chemical Business Association had earlier requested a six-week extension to the pre-registration period.

 

In a direct plea for intervention by Verheugen, Whyte said: “I am therefore asking for your assistance to resolve the problem or at least protect industry from its consequences.”

 

No-one was immediately available to respond from the commissioner’s office.

 

($1 = €0.79)

By: Will Beacham
+44 20 8652 3214

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