In July 2007, the European Union’s REACH Regulation reformed chemicals legislation in Europe. This EC Regulation [REGULATION (EC) No. 1907/2006] governs the registration, evaluation, authorization and restriction of chemicals, hence the acronym REACH. It affects all players in the supply chain – from manufacturers, processors and traders to end-users of chemical substances. It applies to all chemical substances, irrespective of whether they have hazardous properties or not. Articles are only affected by REACH if they release substances or contain substances causing particular concern.

Registration of substances at LANXESS

LANXESS submitted all necessary pre-registration information to the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) in time for the December 1, 2008 deadline. The specialty chemicals group had to prepare and submit dossiers for more than 190 substances by the end of phase I of the main registration process on November 30, 2010. For all substances of phase I LANXESS submitted the dossiers in time by November 30, 2010, to ECHA.

Another 250 chemical substances from the LANXESS portfolio have to be registered by May 2013 in phase II. In total, the specialty chemicals group expects to submit dossiers for around 750 substances to ECHA by the end of all three phases in May 2018.

Overview of registration deadlines for REACH

November 30, 2010 (phase I):

• Substances in volumes    ≥ 1,000 metric tons/year
• Hazardous substances*      ≥ 100 metric tons/year
• CMR substances**        ≥ 1 metric ton/year
  
  

May 31, 2013 (phase II):

• Substances in volumes of 100 to 1,000 metric tons/year
  
  

May 31, 2018 (phase III):

• Substances in volumes of 1 to 100 metric tons/year
  
  

*   N (R50/53): Hazardous to the environment, very toxic to aquatic organisms, may cause long-term adverse effects in the aquatic environment
**  CMR: carcinogenic, mutagenic and reprotoxic