Commercial Information Circulars

24-hour hotline : 23 922 922

e-mail address : enquiry@tid.gov.hk

Ref : EIC 230/6/14

31 July 2007

Dear Sirs,

Commercial Information Circular No. 291/2007

European Union (EU)* : European Chemical Agency (ECHA) Established for the Implementation of REACH

Further to Commercial Information Circular No. 15/2007 of 4 January 2007, the European Chemical Agency (ECHA)** has started operation. To assist manufacturers and importers to comply with the REACH requirements, it has launched the website http://echa.europa.eu, which will be the single point of entry for all information concerning the REACH. Information provided includes:

1. REACH Navigator - an interactive tool to help companies, through answering a set of questions, find out the relevant obligations (i.e., registration, notification, etc.) under REACH.
    
2. Guidance Documents - provide information on good practice to fulfil the REACH obligations in various aspects, such as registration, pre-registration, data sharing, substances in articles, classification and labelling, etc. Some but not all of these guidance documents are already available from the website. The remaining ones are expected to be available in the coming months.
    

3. Free Software Tools - IUCLID5 (International Uniform Chemical Information Database) for companies to store data on chemicals and prepare for their registration; and

   REACH-IT (available in June 2008) allows companies to submit technical dossiers and other required information on chemical substances to ECHA for registration purpose. Companies can review at any time the status of their dossiers, search information and obtain contact details of other companies that have data on the same substance.

    
    
4. Helpdesk - contact list of the ECHA helpdesk and those set up in each Member State to assist companies to register under REACH.
    
5. Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) - compiled on the basis of frequently asked questions received by the ECHA and Member States' helpdesks.
    
6. Latest information and development - releasing all future information concerning the REACH.

ENQUIRIES

2. For enquiries concerning the contents of this circular, please contact the undersigned at telephone number 2398 5500.

Yours faithfully,

(K H NG)

for Director-General of Trade and Industry

* The EU includes Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom.

** ECHA is responsible for managing and carrying out the technical, scientific and administrative aspects of the REACH Regulation. Its duties include managing and coordinating registration, authorisation and evaluation of chemical substances, establishing and maintaining databases of registered substances, the classification and labelling inventory and the harmonised classification and labelling list, providing advice and assistance to manufacturers and importers, etc.