The GoodBye Chain Group

REACH: “No data, no market.”

 Enforcement: Country Specific; Forum coordinated.

Enforcement coordinated at the EU level through the Forum for Exchange of Information on Enforcement (Forum), ensuring that all member states are actively checking REACH compliance

  Penalties: Determined by member states; includes fines and imprisonment

  Examples of penalties:

  Belgium: Fines for failing to comply with the “no data, no market” principle can be as much as €4 million and/or imprisonment of up to three years

  UK: Penalties include an unlimited fine and/or up to two years of imprisonment

  Netherlands: The most severe imprisonment penalty for REACH violations: up to six years

  In the news:

  HSE, the UK’s Competent Authority for REACH, has issued a series of REACH Notices in relation to alleged failures to pre-register or register the manufacture or import of substances. Reports describing REACH enforcement actions in Sweden against two companies that place consumer products on the market in Europe. One of the companies allegedly being investigated failed to respond to requests to provide information about SVHCs in their products. Article 33 of REACH requires that any EU supplier of an article containing an SVHC in a concentration above 0.1 per cent by weight shall provide information, free of charge, to a consumer within 45 days of receipt of a request. An environmental NGO in Sweden made the requests and informed Swedish enforcement authorities when no responses had been received from the companies. The penalties in Sweden for violation of Article 33 range from monetary fines to two years' imprisonment. December 2009.

 

 

In God we trust. All others bring data. -- Amory Lovins