Henkel supports the basic objective underlying the legislative initiative of the European Commission, known by the acronym REACH. REACH regulates the registration, evaluation, authorization and restriction of chemicals.

After several years of debate about the reform of the European chemicals policy, REACH came into force on June 1, 2007. Under the Regulation, all chemicals marketed in Europe will have to be successively registered within a period of eleven years. Safety assessments must be carried out for chemicals manufactured in or imported into the EU, and submitted to the European Chemicals Agency. Risk management measures that may have to be taken when handling chemicals must be communicated to industrial users. Especially dangerous chemicals are subject to an additional authorization procedure.

For the purposes of the REACH Regulation, Henkel is primarily a downstream user of chemicals. However, Henkel is also an importer and producer of chemicals and is therefore subject to registration obligations and the associated costs. To minimize these additional costs when the pre-registration phase starts in June 2008, we have already aligned our existing processes to the future requirements. We will therefore be able to integrate the REACH requirements for assessment of product ingredients into our existing assessment procedures.

Based on today’s knowledge, the licensing requirements for especially hazardous substances will not impact Henkel products in the Laundry & Home Care and Cosmetics/Toiletries business sectors. Such substances are already not used for Henkel’s consumer products. Certain licensing requirements may arise with respect to the products in the Adhesives Technologies business sector.  Working groups with members from across the Company are working on ensuring that the necessary procedures can be quickly and efficiently implemented. This includes communication with our commodity suppliers and the customers of our technical products, as well as the pre-registration of raw materials.

In order to draft the implementing regulations for REACH as pragmatically as possible, Henkel was actively involved at the European level in the preparation of corresponding proposals. The focus was on ensuring that products can be evaluated with efficient processes on the basis of the individual assessments of the ingredients employed.