by kevin Considine, Senior Policy Adviser, Climate & Environment
10. November 2010 09:29
The European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) is expecting 10,000 substance registrations to be submitted between now and 30 November 2010 deadline. This is a massive undertaking when put into perspective that a little over 10,000 registration dossiers have been submitted since 2008.
To further intensify this administrative task ECHA has “strongly advised” REACH lead registrants to submit their substance dossiers at least two weeks before the deadline in order to leave enough time for the other substance registrants to submit their dossiers. If these registrants decide at this late stage to heed ECHA's advice then it should expect, by its own estimation, roughly 2,000 lead registrant dossiers in the next week.
To aid the administrative process ECHA has said that its REACH-IT system will now be open during weekends from 19 November until the first registration deadline on 30 November 2010. This decision offers some degree of scope to registrants; however, even for the most optimistic observer there remains a frantic and fraught three weeks yet to go.
To add to the complexity and confusion of the remaining registration period it appears that an increasing number of registrants are failing the business rules checks for submission. This lack of familiarity with the registration submission process adds to the increasing burden and nervousness of ECHA and registrants.
If you do have registration obligations for this first REACH deadline then I would encourage you to pull out all the stops ahead of the deadline. ECHA has announced that it will shut down REACH-IT on 1 December to upgrade the system. And what really will happen past this date is anyone’s guess.