ESBA - The Independant Voice for Small Business

REACH VOTE IN PLENARY – MIXED RESULT FOR SMEs

Brussels, December 13th 2006

The Parliament today voted in plenary on the second reading of REACH, the major European chemicals legislation controlling the registration, evaluation and authorisation of chemicals. The vote, which gave overwhelming support to the compromise between Parliament and Council, contains some positive aspects for small businesses but a number of problem areas remain.

Although the ‘One Substance One Registration’ (OSOR) principle remains, it is regrettable that the compromise deal maintains the ability of large companies to opt-out of this arrangement. Moreover, regarding the Substance Information Exchange Fora (SIEF), ESBA had hoped that costs would be distributed according to the volume produced, as supported by Parliament’s Environment Committee. However, the compromise has determined that costs should be divided equally amongst all participants. This will effectively lead to greater relative costs for SMEs.

Having said this, a major improvement regards the question of chemical safety assessments for substances produced in less than 10 tonnes. In contrast to Parliament’s previous position, the compromise ensures that substances produced in quantities of 1 to 10 tonnes per year will not require chemical safety reports, a development which promises to significantly cut red tape for SMEs.

ESBA understands the need for an EU-wide chemicals policy, and welcomes the fact that Parliament and Council have avoided the unpredictable process of conciliation. However, it will not become clear for several years whether the correct balance between the goals of REACH and the health of the European economy has been achieved.

The ability of SMEs to continue to operate effectively will be central to this judgment. For this reason, ESBA calls for the sensitive implementation of REACH by the EU and Member States. In addition, the Commission and national governments now have a duty to enable SMEs to fully understand and meet their obligations. A vital step in the right direction would be to forge a close partnership between the Agency and SMEs.

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Note to the editor:

The European Small Business Alliance (ESBA) is a non-party political European group, which cares for small business entrepreneurs and the self-employed and represents them through targeted EU advocacy activities. ESBA also works towards the development of strong independent advocacy and benefits groups in European countries. ESBA is one of the largest organisations based on free/voluntary membership in Europe. Through its direct membership, associate membership and cooperation agreements, ESBA today represents almost one million small businesses and covers 35 European countries. For more information, please contact: secretariat@esba-europe.org

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Page last updated: 30/01/2007 1:56:59 PM