Companies manufacturing or importing chemicals in the EU will have six months to pre-register under new European safety laws if they want to continue operations after 1 December 2008.

The Registration Evaluation Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals (Reach) is described by the European Commission as the most ambitious chemicals legislation in the world. Effective from 1 June 2007, it covers around 30,000 chemicals in current use, including acids, solvents, surfactants and adhesives.

“Reach will enable us to drastically increase our knowledge on the use of chemicals and to use them safely, thus protecting human health and the environment,” said Günter Verheugen, commissioner for the environment. ”Reach will make an invaluable contribution to safe management of chemicals in the EU.”

The thousands of companies which manufacture or import more than one tonne of these chemicals in the EU are being urged by the commission to pre-register with the newly formed European Chemicals Agency (Echa) between 1 June and 1 December 2008.

Companies which don’t pre-register by the 1 December deadline won’t be able to manufacture or import chemicals until they have filed full registration.

“To be safe, please do not miss the deadline of 1 December 2008,” said Verheugen.

Pre-registering has two advantages. First, it enables companies to delay full registration until 2010, 2013 0r 2018, depending on the chemicals use and their quantities.

Second, it enables companies to share chemical testing results. The commission wants to provide tough chemical safety laws, but it also wants to reduce testing, especially on vertebrate animals, to a minimum. The pre-registration scheme will identify common chemicals so that companies can pool testing resources when it comes to full registration.

Pre-registration calls for few details: the substance name and identifiers, company information, envisaged registration deadline, tonnage band and an indication of related substances that can help assessment of the substance.

Full registration includes the results of testing, detailed plans for safe day-to-day handling and emergency procedures.

Echa is expecting 180,000 pre-registrations and has set up help desks to cope. Pre-registration will give companies access to a Substance Information Exchange Forum for each of the chemicals registered, enabling them to collaborate with other users of the same substance.

Potentially, this facility will reduce costs for the chemical industry, says the commission.

Companies that want to keep secret what they manufacture or import will be able to register with Echa but the information will not be shared.

On 1 January 2009 Echa will publish a database of pre-registered chemicals but not related to the companies that filed them.