Coatings companies can identify partners for May 2018 REACH registration deadline

Paint and coatings companies and their suppliers can now benefit from pre-declared data during the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) May 2018 REACH registration deadline, for chemicals made or imported in volumes between 1-100t/yr. ECHA has published a list of 7000 substances for which a ‘lead registrant’ company has been declared in the REACH-IT computer system, which collates data needed for a REACH registration. The database includes information about their identifiers, registration type and whether or not a lead dossier has been submitted. An ECHA note said: "If you are planning to register any of these substances, you can contact the lead registrant company and start negotiating to get access to the joint submission. If the lead registrant of your substance is not visible on the list, you can find their full contact details in REACH-IT”. The EU agency added that if a paint and coating business finds a pre-registered substance that does not yet have a declared lead registrant, a company wanting to take on this role could announce this on the ‘pre-SIEF’ page in REACH-IT.

See https://echa.europa.eu/view-article/-/journal_content/title/list-of-substances-with-lead-registrants-available for details.

* Chemical suppliers of the paint and coatings sector have been advised on relevant IT for new lead dossiers covering groups of companies registering chemicals within the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) May 2018 REACH registration deadline for chemicals made or imported in volumes between 1-100t/yr. ECHA says that such dossiers must be created using the new REACH IUCLID 6 software, available for free on the IUCLID website. See https://iuclid6.echa.europa.eu/download

* ECHA has also announced it will be recommending to the European Commission that certain uses of the carcinogenic chemical chromium trioxide be authorised under REACH controls but with more protection for workers handling this substance. It is widely used for chrome plating and can be used to make anodic coatings for aluminium. See https://echa.europa.eu/addressing-chemicals-of-concern/authorisation/recommendation-for-inclusion-in-the-authorisation-list/authorisation-list

The move comes as ECHA has released draft opinions from its Committees for Risk Assessment (RAC) and Socio-Economic Analysis (SEAC) on controls for a range of hexavalent chromium compounds and technical MDA, which is used to harden resins. More data, see https://echa.europa.eu/about-us/who-we-are/committee-for-risk-assessment and https://echa.europa.eu/about-us/who-we-are/committee-for-socio-economic-analysis

* European Union (EU) and United States negotiators have made as much progress as they can in their comprehensive trade talks ahead of the November 8 US presidential and congressional elections, with EU officials highlighting chemicals, including paints and coatings, as a key area of agreement.

The victor in the coming presidential poll is unlikely to be as enthusiastic about the proposed Transatlantic Trade & Investment Partnership (TTIP) as the current Obama administration, with EU trade ministers due to meet on November 11 to assess the TTIP talks. EU’s chief TTIP Negotiator Ignacio Garcia Bercero said following the latest round in New York, ending October 7, that negotiators had "made significant progress in a number of areas” in the TTIP target industries, including chemicals, cars and engineering,­ all paint and coatings-relevant.