Following the three major environmental directives of WEEE, ROHS, and EUP, a wave of greater impact has been implemented in the European Union, involving a wider range of products. The "Green Test" - "Restrictions on Chemical Registration, Evaluation, Licensing, and Systems" (hereinafter referred to as the REACH Regulation) will be implemented in the European Union on June 1, 2007. At that time, more than 10000 chemical products, as well as downstream potential products involving the use of chemical products, will be exported to the European Union, so there is no way out.
According to reports, EU regulations will gradually replace more than 40 directives and regulations on chemicals, including the "Hazardous Substance Classification, Packaging, and Labeling Directive". According to experts, the REACH regulation "EU New Chemicals Law" is not a separate decree or regulation, but an integrated regulation covering the production, trade, and use of chemicals. The chemicals it exports to the European Union have stricter environmental protection and requirements, including registration, evaluation, authorization, and restrictions.
We export EU controlled paints to chemical raw materials and products, such as pharmaceuticals, chemical fibers, rubber, plastics, textiles, light industry, electronics, automobiles, home appliances, and other fields. However, only a dozen categories of Guangdong's exports of nearly 10000 advantageous products are likely to be hindered.
New regulations to strictly control the export of chemicals to the European Union
Like the WEEE and RoHS directives, REACH regulations ensure human health and flag the environment, producing names for approximately 30000 chemical products exported to the European Union or other countries, involving the use of chemical products for registration, evaluation, authorization, and other management and supervision systems, regulating production, use, and distribution of chemicals in all downstream products on the European Union market. Many of our products may not meet the required basic registration requirements due to a lack of relevant data.
The regulations contained in the logo refer to the widely used and newly invented chemical substances, which require manufacturers or importers to submit detailed product information to a database REACH as long as they produce or import more than one ton; The assessment regulations included in the assessment shall be formulated by the competent authority to carefully evaluate all chemicals with a production capacity exceeding 100 tons, and in special circumstances, including registration information for less produced chemicals; The regulations contained in the license refer to chemicals or components that are easily cause significant concern, such as carcinogenic, mutagenic, or reproductive harmful chemicals, and government authorities will provide specific authorization for their specific use.
This regulation has a significant impact on enterprise registration, as it proposes a strict time limit. For new substances with a weight of over 1 ton, the new regulations will take effect 12 months before the manufacturer or importer of the goods can be registered on the market. For existing substances, the new regulations require the production of over 1000 tons of chemical substances and no more than one ton of carcinogenic or mutagenic substances to be registered under REACH regulations within three years of entry into force; The production capacity is 100-1000 tons, which must be completed six years after the REACH registration takes effect; 11 years have passed since the effective date of the registration of the new regulations for the production of 1-100 tons; Product management systems that are not regularly monitored cannot be sold in the EU market.
It is understood that the European Union is one of Guangdong's main export markets. At present, Guangdong's flagship products exported to the European Union, such as pharmaceuticals, electronics, textiles, plastics, chemical fibers, etc., contain chemical components and are downstream products of chemicals. In Guangdong Province, at least 10 major categories and tens of thousands of advantageous products will be affected by regulations, and exports may be blocked.
Multiple factors increase the cost of the enterprise
Experts say that the implementation of new EU regulations has a serious impact on enterprises, as it will lead to a significant increase in manufacturers' costs. Some are small and have weak economic strength, as they cannot meet the regulatory requirements of small and medium-sized enterprises and can only abandon the EU market. Therefore, the reshuffle of domestic and international chemical and related industries is inevitable.
The REACH regulations also stipulate strict testing standards and high testing costs, which are borne by enterprises. According to EU estimates, the basic cost of testing each chemical substance is approximately 85000 euros, and the cost of testing each new substance is as high as 570000 euros. This alone will generally increase the cost of exporting to the EU by more than 5% for enterprises, as well as for products with more testing items, resulting in higher costs. Some small and medium-sized enterprises may not need to pay such expensive testing fees.
In addition, REACH regulations not only involve chemical manufacturers, but also importers and downstream industries. Once they come into effect, EU chemical producers or exporting enterprises will undoubtedly incur huge testing costs in downstream enterprises, which will increase China's costs for imports from chemical and pharmaceutical industries, and once again pass on costs, directly leading to an increase in export costs and a decline in benefits for Chinese enterprises.
