EU 'REACH' Regulations are looming

REACH is a European Union regulation concerning the Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and restriction of Chemicals. It came into force on 1st June 2007.

The regulations will not ban processes as such, but will potentially outlaw the use of many chemicals, some of which are the basis of key engineering coatings. It also places obligations on suppliers to inform customers if their product contains any hazardous materials, above specified thresholds. Our coatings do not, but we are increasingly concerned about threats to the use of nickel compounds, with implications for Electroless Nickel Plating and Thermal Spraying.

REACH is a legally enforced regulation. It cannot be ignored, unlike previous Material Safety Data Sheets (MSDS). If the allowable limits are reduced, companies like Poeton will need to ask their customers the size and weight of their parts, and then make complicated assessments about the weight of certain metals or compunds in the surface coating. It will be a huge burden, costly, and likely impractical, and failure to comply will raise difficult questions of liability.

The next stage of registration is in 2015, which includes many ‘not so hazardous’ materials. This is the time when a lot of materials will cease to be available for economic reasons, based on their hazard clasification. For those substances registered under the previous deadline, the exposure scenarios and risk prevention measures are being written now, ready to go into the new MSDS’s.

Specifically, we want to address the future classification of nickel compounds. If we don’t act now, and ensure that the potential hazards of those compounds are properly researched, understood and defined, there could be an unwarranted threat to Electroless Nickel Plating, Thermal Spraying of coatings containing nickel, and even the crucially important Zn/Ni coatings used in the automotive industry. These are all coatings that are vital to our industrial users, and they must not be sacrificed through apathy or unjustified hazard classifications.

We need as many people as possible to read the draft proposals and get them modified before they go into print. It will be too late afterwards. If you have an interest in this, adding your voice, please contact us at sales@poeton.co.uk and we will provide you with links to relevant documents. We will co-ordinate the responses and make representations through the industry.

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