News

Dr Dieter Drohmann and Francisco Hernández are focussing on the risks of regrettable substitution under REACH when substitute products are as harmful or potentially worse than the replaced one. The authors explain the term “regrettable substitution” as well as the REACH Authorisation process and strengthen their argumentation by selected case studies. As regrettable substitution could seriously harm competition and constitutes a high risk for human health and the environment, it should be strictly avoided. Therefore, the authors call for actions taken by EU authorities and the chemical industry to prevent this scenario.

Dr Dieter Drohmann and Dr Dominik Kirf give an overview on the developments of chemical regulation in the Eurasian Economic Union. The article is focussing on submitting data to the new Chemical Substances Inventory which is possible until the extended deadline August 1, 2020. The authors conclude that the so-called “Eurasia REACH” shows strong similarities to EU REACH and might strengthen the need for global data sharing while raising major challenges for SMEs, due to the language barriers.

Dr Jaime Sales and Nicia Mourão (Mourão Henrique Consultores Associados LTDA, Brazil) take a look at the Brazilian chemical industry and regulatory environment. Although Brazil is ranked the 8^th country in the world in terms of production of chemicals, it has not yet developed a comprehensive regulation for the safe management of industrial chemicals. The authors illustrate the previous developments and initiatives in the Brazilian regulatory landscape and point out that the implementation of a good chemical regulatory framework is necessary to keep the Brazilian industry on the chemical world map.