REACH Chemicals : 'Council's political agreement on REACH'

16 December 2005

Following the extraordinary meeting of the EU’s competitiveness council held on the last 13 December, ministers have voted to accept key amendments to the Reach draft proposed by the European Commission.

Next steps now are:

- A formal Common Position of the Council is expected in May 2006
- Second reading of the proposal by the European Parliament in summer/autumn 2006

If timeschedule will be respected, the Commission expects entry into force of the Regulation for spring 2007.

Thereafter it will take about a year for the REACH Agency to be operational and accordingly the operational requirements of REACH are expected to start to be applied from 2008.

For more information please find below the FECC (the European Association of Chemical Distributors) press release.

For further information contact:
Stefano Colicchia, tel +39-02-48479.223 fax +39-02-48479.405
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