CBA reveals ECHA over-funding concerns

A Chemical Business Association product story

Edited by the Processingtalk editorial team May 20, 2009

The Chemical Business Association (CBA) has called for an urgent review of the funding levels for the European Chemical Agency (ECHA).

The CBA believes ECHA will be massively over-funded based on the extent to which it underestimated the number of Reach pre-registrations it would receive.

Instead of the forecast 150,000 pre-registrations, ECHA received 2.7 million - 18 times more than it expected.

Melvyn Whyte, chairman of CBA's Reach task force, said: 'Time and again, CBA has warned that ECHA's estimates for the number of pre-registrations were wide of the mark - and it is industry that has had to handle the consequences.

The CBA believes that the volume of pre-registrations pose a serious problem for the effective implementation of Reach as well as increasing the likelihood that ECHA will be massively over-funded.

Whyte added: 'The ECHA error in underestimating the number of pre-registrations has resulted in SIEFs (Substance Information Exchange Forums) which are completely unmanageable and in some cases have 5,000 participants.

'This situation has so distorted the nature of SIEFs that they are clearly not capable of fulfilling their intended function.

'The whole situation needs to be urgently addressed, otherwise Reach implementation will just grind to a halt.

CBA is also concerned about the number of pre-registrations and the structure of Reach fees having the capacity to over-fund ECHA.

The possibility of over-funding was recognised by ECHA during last year's pre-registration period.

In June 2008, when Geert Dancet, executive director at the ECHA, was interviewed by the CBA Outlook magazine, he said: 'We need to wait and see.

'Industry must not panic.

'If our calculations are wrong and we receive massively more registrations than we expect, we will have to review the situation towards the end of 2010.

'If our revenue stream proves much stronger than we originally forecasted, I expect Reach registration costs to be revised downwards - particularly for smaller firms.

Whyte said: 'As it is now a near certainty that the situation Dancet described will actually come about, CBA is calling for the mechanism to review Reach fees to be initiated.

'This situation is given added urgency by the worsening economic situation the industry is facing.