Top 5 reasons why you need a REACH Only Representation

Top 5 reasons foreign companies need REACH Only Representation

The Euro­pean Chem­i­cals Agency (ECHA) intro­duced the Euro­pean REACH direc­tive in 2007. Since then, for­eign com­pa­nies have strug­gled with the ques­tion of whether they need REACH Only Rep­re­sen­ta­tion. This arti­cle sum­ma­rizes the top 5 rea­sons why REACH Only Rep­re­sen­ta­tion is impor­tant. It also explains why now is the right time to find and appoint a REACH Only Representative.

I will list the top 5 rea­sons for REACH Only Rep­re­sen­ta­tion. And then, go through each of them in more detail. REACH Only Representatives:

  1. Ensure busi­ness continuity
  2. Are experts in REACH Regulation
  3. Take risk away from for­eign suppliers
  4. Elim­i­nate paper­work and admin­is­tra­tive hassles
  5. Pre­pare for­eign sup­pli­ers for future mar­ket changes

Let’s go through each rea­son in more details and how each rea­son impacts for­eign chem­i­cal and sub­stance sup­pli­ers imports into Europe.

REACH Only Representation ensures business continuity

The final phase of the Euro­pean REACH direc­tive will be imple­ment­ed in June, 2018. After this date, sup­pli­ers that have not reg­is­tered the sub­stances that are required to be reg­is­tered will no longer be able to sup­ply their prod­ucts to their Euro­pean cus­tomers. This applies to both for­eign sup­pli­ers and domes­tic Euro­pean suppliers.

REACH Only Representatives are experts in REACH regulations

REACH direc­tive will affect my prod­ucts? Do I need to reg­is­ter my sub­stances? These and many oth­er REACH-relat­ed ques­tions are ones that REACH Only Rep­re­sen­ta­tives are at home with.

The best REACH Only Rep­re­sen­ta­tives are mem­bers of ORO, the Orga­ni­za­tion of REACH Only Rep­re­sen­ta­tive that has its fin­ger on the pulse of the chang­ing REACH land­scape. Not only that, but ORO mem­bers are actu­al­ly respon­si­ble for set­ting many of ECHA’s rules and regulations.

REACH Only Representations takes risk away from foreign suppliers

There is a real risk that if for­eign sup­pli­ers do not com­ply with Euro­pean REACH direc­tives, they will no longer be able to sup­ply to their Euro­pean cus­tomers. But, there is also a risk that for­eign sup­pli­ers who incor­rect­ly report data to ECHA will be fined.

Mem­bers of ORO (includ­ing CAPLINQ), have insur­ance against such risks. They are legal­ly respon­si­ble for the prop­er chem­i­cal report­ing of their prin­ci­pals’ sub­stances. In the unlike­ly event that the REACH Only Rep­re­sen­ta­tive makes an error in report­ing, the for­eign sup­pli­er no longer has any respon­si­bil­i­ty. They can point to their REACH Only Rep­re­sen­ta­tive. The REACH OR in turn is insured against such errors and can work to fix the situation.

REACH Only Representation eliminates paperwork and administrative hassles

Once a for­eign sup­pli­er has appoint­ed a REACH OR, the OR must work to have the com­pa­ny set­up for reg­u­lar report­ing to ECHA. After this stage, REACH Only Rep­re­sen­ta­tion is an admin­is­tra­tive task that must be car­ried out by Euro­pean companies.

The best REACH Only Rep­re­sen­ta­tives auto­mate much of this report­ing and thus com­ply with cur­rent REACH reg­u­la­tions with min­i­mal addi­tion­al expense. Because of this, a com­pa­ny just start­ing out in REACH Only Rep­re­sen­ta­tion has a sig­nif­i­cant­ly high­er admin­is­tra­tive burden.

REACH Only Representation prepares foreign suppliers for future market changes

REACH reg­u­la­tions are con­stant­ly chang­ing. So, it is like­ly that the reg­u­la­tion that will be enforced from June 2018 will still look dif­fer­ent than the REACH direc­tive as it looks today. And, with these changes come oppor­tu­ni­ties of course.

There­fore, good REACH Only Rep­re­sen­ta­tives will rec­og­nize what these changes mean to their for­eign sup­pli­ers. As such, they can iden­ti­fy areas for improve­ment as well as changes that might even give their for­eign sup­pli­ers a com­pet­i­tive advantage.

Please vis­it caplinq.com to learn more about the Euro­pean REACH direc­tive. You can con­tact us if you have fur­ther ques­tions on REACH Only Rep­re­sen­ta­tion or to under­stand how CAPLINQ’s REACH Only Rep­re­sen­ta­tive Ser­vice can help you import your sub­stances into Europe.

About Chris Perabo

Chris is an energetic and enthusiastic engineer and entrepreneur. He is always interested in taking highly technical subjects and distilling these to their essence so that even the layman can understand. He loves to get into the technical details of an issue and then understand how it can be useful for specific customers and applications. Chris is currently the Director of Business Development at CAPLINQ.

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