Deadline looms for REACH
Cosmetics companies seem to be largely in the dark over the REACH deadline
The first deadline to register chemicals under the EU’s REACH chemical control system arrives on 30 November. The cosmetics and other personal care product industries are waiting to see whether their suppliers will log the paperwork on time, something it has struggled to find out in advance.
Cosmetics companies are generally downstream users in the REACH world, meaning they are not responsible for registering chemical ingredients they use under REACH. However, this also means they have been left virtually in the dark during their suppliers’ registration processes, according to industry associations such as the Cosmetic Toiletry & Perfumery Association (CTPA) in the UK and the Brussels-based European Cosmetics Association (Colipa). Many have no idea whether their suppliers even have to register their chemicals by 30 November or at a later date – for chemicals used in quantities of 100 tonnes per year and less – or if they will include the necessary information for cosmetics companies to continue using these ingredients.
Substances and preparations that must be registered by 30 November are those produced in quantities of more than 1,000 tonnes per year; substances that are carcinogenic, mutagenic or reprotoxic and are produced in quantities of more than 1 tonne per year; and substances that are very harmful for the environment and produced in quantities of more than 100 tonnes per year.
The CTPA’s Paul Crawford says some suppliers have been excellent at communicating with companies to make sure their specific uses and formulas are included in the registrations. But others have been incredibly difficult to get a hold of.
“The supply chain can get complicated,” says Crawford. “If you deal directly with a manufacturer it’s probably easier to communicate with them, but if you deal with distributers it’s harder to get in contact because lines of communication get stretched, especially if the material is coming from overseas. We feel pretty powerless down here, not knowing what’s going on.”
No matter how well intended a communications strategy, sheer volume has also slowed the flow of information, particularly from large ingredients suppliers. “You can imagine the number of downstream companies, all of them kind of panicking – the whole communications chain is saturated right now,” says Manuela Coroama, senior manager of technical and regulatory affairs at Colipa.
The panic comes from how intricately linked downstream users are to suppliers, and the consequences they face if a supplier does not comply. Any supplier’s substance which is required to register by 30 November but fails will suddenly be off the market, leaving its cosmetics manufacturers scrambling to find new suppliers, quickly reformulating their products, or halting production.
“They are basically dependent on their supplier, because if the supplier misses the deadline, it has to stop supplying, so the company is also potentially out of business, at least temporarily,” says Laurence Hoffstadt, a scientific officer for the Helsinki-based European Chemicals Agency (ECHA), which is responsible for administering REACH. “Furthermore the supplier has to confirm in its dossier that the use is, for example, in a hand cream. Otherwise they can’t supply for the cream anymore.”
Crawford adds that switching to a new supplier is not an easy process, nor can it happen overnight. “Even if you buy supposedly the same ingredient from someone else, you have to do testing (stability, performance) to make sure it behaves in the same way as the previous batch. You can’t just plop it into place,”
he says.
But suppliers face a burden too. Celanese, a global chemicals supplier to the EU cosmetics market, pre-registered a total of 172 substances that it must register, with complete exposure scenarios and data, over the next eight years, many by the upcoming deadline. This process has required a dedicated REACH team and “significant time, programme resources, cost and organisational support requirements,” according to the company. It says it has made great efforts to promote effective communication channels, relying on general chemical industry associations and substance specific panels to help clients. It also fostered direct supply chain communication and posts important information on its website.
But despite best efforts from many suppliers, Crawford says the CTPA has no idea how many registrations related to cosmetics manufacturing will be tendered this autumn. In fact downstream users will not know for sure that a substance has been registered, or should have been, until they receive their new safety data sheets (SDS), which could be months after the deadline. However, Coroama says cosmetic companies will not be held officially responsible for using an illegal substance until the day they receive the SDS.
Furthermore ECHA says it will soon publish a list of registered substances on its website so that downstream users can seek last minute comfort that supply will not be disrupted.
ECHA expects between 4,500 and 5,000 substances to be registered in total by 30 November, which amounts to about 38,000 registrations due to the fact that more than one company manufactures or imports the same substance. However, it is unclear how many of these relate to cosmetics products, says Hoffstadt. “We’re just working with the chemical names right now – we don’t know what industries they will be used in.”
Looking ahead, the next deadline is 31 May 2013 for substances that are manufactured or imported in quantities of 100 to 1,000 tonnes per year. The final deadline falls on 31 May 2018 for substances manufactured and imported in quantities between 1 and 100 tonnes per year.
One blessing for cosmetics companies is that exposure scenarios for cosmetics uses do not need to assess the risk for human health, since this is already covered by the EU’s cosmetics directive. Cosmetics ingredients must still be analysed for environmental and occupational health impact amongst workers however.
- Companies:
- Celanese
- CTPA Cosmetic Toiletry and Perfumery Association
- Cosmetics Europe
- ECHA European Chemicals Agency
