Time for exporters to gain some extra REACH

Local exporters have no choice but to comply with the new rules

Under the REACH, which stands for registration, evaluation, authorisation, and restrictions of chemicals, all chemicals produced in large volumes or considered potentially damaging to human health or the environment will be subject to registration with the European Chemicals Agency.

Launched in June 2007, REACH will be enacted in phases, beginning with pre-registration from June 1 to December 1, 2008. During this period, brand owners, manufacturers and importers need to declare information about chemical substances in their products being exported to the EU.

Bureau Veritas Hong Kong Company vice president of services development David Horlock said last week at the seminar introducing REACH to Ho Chi Minh City that although the regulation had yet to come into force, local businesses needed to act quickly as the regulation’s required process was complicated and time-consuming.

“Don’t wait until the deadline to pre-register your products’ substances, as I know this is a popular way in Vietnamese culture, unless you want to get behind the game or be totally dropped out of this largest import market. This is the “law” and everyone has no way but to comply with it and the sooner you get to know it the better your business is,” said Horlock.

As stated by the European Chemicals Agency, the full compliance with REACH for pre-registered products can then be achieved over a 10-year timeframe, to prove that the declared chemicals are not known to cause harm to human health and the environment.

From December 2008 onwards, any products with chemical substances not pre-registered must undergo a long and detailed registration process before they can be exported to the EU. “This complex law has the potential to impact almost all Vietnamese businesses exporting to European markets. As a result, developing the fullest possible understanding of REACH is essential for all Vietnamese exporters,” said EuroCham Hanoi office director Nicholas Greenfield.

“It [REACH] has a wide range of implications for brand owners, retailers and their supply chains, not only just for exporting to the EU market but also for Asia, especially Japan or US markets as well,” added Greenfield.
Horlock, however, said that the regulation now was just applied in 27 EU-member countries while the US and Japan, the two other biggest imported countries of Vietnam, are still reviewing the regulation.

“Those markets will sooner or later apply REACH as they have very big and famous franchised and exported products into the EU market, so when exporters have currently dealing with different regulations of chemical substances in exported products such as Prop 65, RoHs, EN71, and CSR, REACH will be the mixture of all these regulations and voluntary initiatives of industries,” Horlock said.

Vietnam will have its first chemical law being effective after July 1 2008, which will take law makers some more time after the effective day for issuing under-law documents for implementation instruction. REACH, in the mean time, will be the only and the most comprehensive regulation for local enterprises to manage their chemical substances in products for trading domestically and going abroad.

“While Vietnam’s chemical law requires registration of only new chemicals, REACH requires the registration of both existing and new chemicals used for even articles, Vietnamese exporters should effectively adopt REACH from now on,” said Dang Phan Thu Huong, deputy director general of the Ministry of Industry and Trade’s International Cooperation Department.