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REACH in 2008
Friends of the Earth Europe, alongside other environmental, health and consumer NGOs continued to monitor and work on the Implementation of REACH to ensure that it delivers the highest possible level of protection for human health and the environment from hazardous chemicals. Pre-registration started on 1 June 2008 and ended 1 December 2008. It involved the industry submitting limited information about substances they import or produce such as the name of the substance, the details of the pre-registrant and the tonnage band of the substance to the European Chemicals Agency. For more information see the Agency's website The list project - under the auspices of the International Chemical Secretariat, and in cooperation with science and business communities, the NGOs prepared a candidate list for the substances subject to authorisation under REACH. The list contains substances for which there is scientific evidence that they fulfill the criteria of Article 57 of the Regulation (and therefore are considered to be Substances of Very High Concern). The aim of this project was to ensure that authorisation is an effective tool to fast-track the most urgent Substances of Very High Concern for substitution, and to facilitate toxic use reduction by businesses. The final result of this project is called REACH SIN list and was launched at the ChemSec Substitution Conference on 17 September 2008 in Brussels. Agency watch - the NGOs monitor developments in the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA), operational since 1 June 2008. The NGO representative to the Management Board of ECHA raise pertinent concerns on behalf of civil society, while the NGOs at Brussels and national levels are following the work of the Agency's committees and other issues of relevance, particularly in terms of independence of experts and transparency of ECHA decision-making. Reviews of annexes - REACH contains many opportunities for improvement but also threats of weakening the legislation throughout the numerous reviews and revisions. The NGOs participate in a Commission subgroup for the preparation of the reviews of the REACH Annexes, through our representative, Ninja Reineke, from the WWF European Policy Office. The reviews in 2008 involved the following: For further information contact Ninja Reineke at nreineke@wwfepo.org National implementation work - the Competent Authorities in the EU member states are responsible for the implementation and enforcement of REACH Regulation. FoEE member groups will be monitoring and providing input to their work. For more information contact your national NGO or Competent Authority
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