The Ministry of Economy has issued a statement on the announcement of the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) that the deadline for the registration of exporters of materials and products that have chemical components to the EU in accordance with REACH (European Regulation on Registration, Evaluation, Authorization and Restriction of Chemicals) is on May 31, 2018. Exporters of non-registered products of more than one ton per year will not be able to send their products to the EU after that date.

The statement forms part of the Ministry’s efforts to enhance the level of awareness among the UAE’s private sector on the latest policies, legislation and administrative and regulatory procedures adopted by various countries worldwide, especially the UAE’s trade partners.

The Ministry shares that per ECHA regulation, non-EU companies cannot register directly with “Reach” but only through the importers of their products in the EU. The European importer thus needs detailed information on the composition and proportions of chemicals in the concerned products. A non-EU company can appoint a representative based in the EU to apply for registration on its behalf.

REACH was approved in 2006 and introduced in 2007. According to ECHA, it aims to regulate the handling of chemicals, and to place the responsibility for the safety of chemicals on manufacturers, promote health and environmental safety standards and to reduce the impact of chemicals on humans. It also raises the competitiveness of European products by adopting high safety standards for chemical content.