The REACH ‘Competent Authorities’ of Member States

Competent Authorities are those government bodies or departments responsible for the implementation of REACH (Regulation (EC) No.1907/2006) within each EU Member State. Each Member State has appointed one or more Competent Authorities. Which type of government body is responsible varies per Member State. In some, it is the Environment Ministry or Protection Agency which is responsible for chemicals regulation and management in that country, and thereby also the REACH Competent Authority. In other countries, the Ministry of Health, Occupational Safety, or Chemicals Bureau is separately or jointly appointed with other bodies, sometimes event the ministry of economy, as the Competent Authorities. Approximately one third are ranged under Environment ministries, one third under Health or labor ministries, and one third under other agencies. The extent to which a given Competent Authority pro-actively pursues the highest possible standards of protection of health and environment in Europe is not necessarily reflected in their ministerial location. A list of the REACH Competent Authorities for each EU member state can be found in the publication ‘Navigating REACH’ (see below).

The Competent Authorities of Member States work together with the European Chemicals Agency and the European Commission in implementing REACH. They:

• are responsible for running the national helpdesks, a service which advises companies and other stakeholders about their REACH obligations.
• can propose chemicals for the REACH procedure called substance evaluation. The evaluation is carried out to clarify any potential risk to human health or the environment that the substance may cause, beyond that which was determined through the Registration procedure.
• can carry out a substance evaluation for one or more chemicals. The competent authority evaluates whether more information is needed, and requests it from the chemical’s registrant. The competent authority may conclude that the chemical needs to undergo a restriction or authorisation procedure; or that other authorities need to be informed in order to take action under other relevant legislation.
• can prepare a so-called ‘Annex XV’ dossier to nominate a substance of very high concern to the ‘Candidate List’ – the list of substances subject to the Authorisation process.

Every few months there are meetings of the REACH ‘competent authorities’ where the national ministry officials meet with the Commission and stakeholders to discuss matters related to the establishment and implementation of the REACH system. Prior to REACH, the Competent Authorities met to conduct affairs under the European Existing and New Substances Chemicals laws (Regulation 793/93/EEC and Directive 92/32/EEC). Environment and health NGOs have 4 observer seats at these meetings, in addition to two seats for a representative of trade unions and a representative of animal rights groups. Industry affiliated groups also have several observer seats. Health community stakeholders are currently represented through the Health and Environment Alliance, the NGO that is running the Chemicals Health Monitor project.

The meetings of the REACH Competent Authorities generally take place in Brussels:

• 3-4 September 2007
• 19-20 December 2007
• 27-28 March 2008
• 16-17 June 2008

To learn more about REACH you can:

• See other REACH sections on this Chemicals Health Monitor website
• Read the publication “Navigating REACH ”
• See the REACH Relevant Links