JRC releases software tool to help chemical industry comply with REACH
The Joint Research Centre (JRC) of the European Commission has released a software tool to help chemical companies comply with the new REACH (Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals) legislation. The software application, IUCLID 5 (International Uniform Chemical Information Database), aims to help the chemical industry fulfil its reporting obligations to submit data to the new European Chemicals Agency (ECHA). As of 1 June 2008, chemical producers and importers will have to pre-register their existing chemical substances in order to benefit from later registration, and register new chemical substances to the chemicals agency. Companies that fail to submit a REACH registration dossier on a substance within the relevant regulatory deadline will find that they will not be able to produce or import the substance on to the European market. For this reason, the Commission designed the IT tool to facilitate the task of reporting chemicals in the specific IUCLID format, as required by REACH. The software is free of charge and comes in an easy installation kit. A professional service desk will also be set up to answer any questions on the technical aspects of the IUCLID application.