Once an article – always an article?

The discussion of the reference value of an article has reached the next stage. As Germany, Austria, Belgium, France, Sweden, Denmark and Norway still have a dissenting opinion on the information obligations of article 33 REACH regulation, suppliers of articles are facing different interpretations and enforcement activities in the different member states. Basically, according to the wording of the law, companies have to inform the recipients of an article about candidate substances (substances of very high concern) > 0,1 mass%. Recently, the German REACH and CLP Helpdesk has published a “short notice” as a supporting document for the fulfillment of the information duties according to the German understanding: once an article – always an article. Enforcement activities referring to this understanding of the reference value will have strong impacts on industry. The import of complex products (assembly of several articles) from outside the EU or from EU countries supporting ECHAs opinion will be faced with difficulties of receiving sufficient and veridical information about the article(s). Plausibility checks and the risk-based- approach may help identifying or excluding the presence of candidate substances, but nevertheless, in many cases, the avoidance of cost-intensive testing won’t be possible.