Europe’s REACH regulation - busting the 1 tonne myth, with a focus on articles

REACH is an acronym/anagram for the European regulation that addresses the classification, documentation, labeling, and related authority communications for chemical substances on their own, or in preparations or articles. It came into effect in June of 2007, and has several staged deadlines from now until 2018 and later. A common misconception about REACH is that it only applies to substances imported or manufactured in quantities exceeding 1 metric tonⁱ in a given year. Actually, REACH has criteria that apply even for quantities as small as 1 gram. This paper provides a brief overview of REACH, and some key high level concepts (particularly highlighting those that apply regardless of tonnage), and then delves into criteria that are applicable to hardware products; “articles” in the terminology of REACH.