What the New German Government Plans for REACH

A new, 179-page coalition agreement (German only) among the CDU, CSU, and SPD
political parties was published on February 7 and approved on February 26. The document contains one passage related to REACH (p. 142).

According to the agreement, the parties want to strengthen REACH in the future. They want the existing chemicals legislation, REACH, to cover products manufactured outside the EU that contain substances of very high concern that can be released into the environment. The document states that the best way to accomplish this goal is to use the restrictions procedure in REACH. The agreement indicates that the regulation of these chemicals is to be accelerated and simplified. The parties also expressly argue that future modifications of REACH should close regulatory loopholes that put European companies at a disadvantage.

In a position paper on the current status of REACH implementation (German only) of
February 2017, the Federation of German Industries (Bundesverband der Deutschen
Industrie) warns of competitive disadvantages for companies headquartered in the EU that can arise during the authorization process. The authorization requirement still does not apply to products imported into the EU that contain chemicals that require authorization. These kinds of products can still be imported into the EU. The authors of the paper argue that this situation can lead to significant disadvantages for EU manufacturers.

If you have any questions on REACH, please contact us at reach@kft.de.