Within reach

The European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) became fully operational on 1 June, 2008, which allows companies to submit pre-registration and registration dossiers under the European Union (EU) regulation on the Registration, Evaluation, Authorization, and Restriction of Chemicals. The ECHA, based in Helsinki, will act as the regulatory body for REACH and will manage and co-ordinate the REACH processes, publishing guidance documents and providing practical advice on how REACH will work. REACH covers individual chemical substances in preparations and articles, where the substance is intended to be released during normal conditions of use from that articles. The aim of pre-registration is to identify substances made or distributed by more than one company, and to facilitate the sharing of critical data between those companies. The aim is to minimize both the amount of animal testing and to reduce the cost to industry.