UK chemicals bodies highlight shared concerns on REACH
Two representative bodies for the UK chemicals industry have joined forces to voice their common concerns to the British government over the EU's proposed REACH chemicals legislation. The British Chemical Distributors and Traders Association (BCDTA) and the Chemical Industries Association (CIA) sent a letter to the UK ministers responsible for REACH to highlight the crucial points on which they share an agreed position. 'The CIA and BCDTA and our respective counterparts across Europe fully support the goals of the Commission's proposals for a single new regulation to replace existing European chemicals legislation, which is complex and unclear. However, implementation of REACH in its current form will create another bureaucratic, costly and inefficient system,' the letter reads. Among those issues that the two organisation believes are crucial to the success of REACH are: - the introduction of proposals for risk-based prioritisation at the registration stage so that substances of high concern can be dealt with earlier; - a removal of any REACH requirements for R&D or process or product oriented research in order to ensure that innovation is not damaged; - greater consideration of data and security requirements to protect commercial confidentiality and intellectual property rights; - mandatory sharing of core animal data. The CIA director general Judith Hackitt said: 'We fully support the legislative objectives of REACH, but the success and effectiveness of a single new regulation covering chemicals depends on several crucial workability issues being urgently resolved.' The BCDTA's Melvyn White added: 'It is useful for the BCDTA and CIA to have a public statement outlining those workability issues on which we agree and share a common perspective. 95 per cent of BCDTA membership are SMEs [small and medium sized enterprises] and their survival is of utmost concern to us.'
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