REACH for retailers

Under REACH, retailers in Europe must respond to customers' enquire about chemicals in products.

by John Hubbard

When the REACH regulation was first published in December 2006, it required that finished goods imported into the European Union did not contain excessive quantities of harmful chemicals. It also included a mechanism for assessing the risks posed by such substances in articles, to both human health and the environment.

These requirements focus around a list of ‘Substances of Very High Concern’ (SVHC), which has been expanded since its first version (published in 2009, and which contained 15 substances), to 73 substances by December 2011. If any of these chemicals are present in a finished article at a concentration of 0.1 per cent or above – based on the total weight of the article – the manufacturer or importer will be covered by the obligations under the substances in articles requirements of REACH.

There are two obligations that organisations will need to consider. If, in addition to the presence above the threshold concentration, the total amount of the individual substance imported by one company into the European Union is in excess of one tonne per annum, the importer is required to notify the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) and provide information into the supply chain to ensure safe use of the product. If the same substance is included in more than one product type, the total amount should be summed across the entire product range – not just a specific product line or type. Notification is free, and is achieved through the ECHA website.

The second requirement is independent of the total amount imported and is only triggered by the 0.1 per cent threshold. Retailers and distributors are expected to be able to respond to requests for information from members of the public about the presence of SVHC chemicals in their products, within a 45-day period from the request being made by the customer.

A challenge for retailers

It is this requirement that can potentially prove challenging for retailers to meet, as it relies on frontline customer service staff being given sufficient training to recognise REACH requests when they are submitted. It also requires a robust policy to be in place to ensure that such requests are directed to the correct departments within the organisation in a timely fashion. In addition, it also requires a good relationship with suppliers (who may be outside the EU/EEA) in order to obtain this information, and an ability to interpret this information with respect to the individual product type.

Retailers must not assume that because they are sourcing product from within Europe, they do not need to respond to these requests, and that it is purely a matter for their supplier. They will, at the very least, need to make the member of the public aware that the request has been redirected, or act as an intermediary between the customer and the supplier. Ultimately, it is the responsibility of the first organisation which brings the product into Europe, but everyone in the supply chain has an obligation to communicate information.

SATRA has developed a short training course intended specifically for customer service teams. It gives a basic background on REACH, and allows personnel dealing directly with the members of the public to recognise relevant requests and begin to understand how to respond. This is also compatible with the requirements from the General Product Safety Directive, which requires the training of staff to recognise safety critical complaints and take appropriate action. This training is best delivered to small groups from an organisation.

Publishing Data

This article was originally published on page 36 of the February 2012 issue of SATRA Bulletin.

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