Will REACH become the world standard for chemicals legislation? Which other countries may orient their system according to REACH?
REACH is currently the most ambitious chemicals legislation in the world. However, several third countries have carefully followed the discussions in the EU over the last few years and have shown a keen interest to learn from REACH. These include Switzerland, Norway, Canada, Japan, Korea, New-Zealand and certain developing countries such as China. In the United States, discussions in Congress have begun about whether the current legislation is sufficient to protect health and environment and REACH is regularly mentioned in that context. Several states including Masachusetts and California are increasing their capacity to monitor bio-accumulative chemicals and to ban or phase out dangerous substances.
The Commission is in contact with a large number of other third countries and will endeavour to help them with training and technical assistance to deal with the new legislation. The EU has indeed taken a constructive international leadership role on chemicals safety and REACH has the potential to inspire new standards worldwide.
