CHEMICALS STRATEGY: PARLIAMENT HURLS SCATHING CRITICISM AT REACH IMPACT REPORT.

According to experts at Arthur D. Little (ADL), the consultants asked by DG Research to evaluate the impact of the future REACH (Registration, Evaluation and Authorisation of Chemicals) on the competitiveness of the industry, who opened the floor with a brief presentation of their study, the REACH system would lead to significant losses for the industry in terms of innovation and production capacity due to the particular impact of the four parameters that were studied: costs, time to market (for new products), duty of authorisation, and duty for disclosure. The firm argued that these factors and losses could lead to either the total withdrawal of some production, or the relocation of production and possibly, ultimately, the production of substitute products. The experts said the analysis was "unable to identify any real advantages for the industry" and estimated the cost to industry to be 300 to 600 times greater than the most pessimistic estimates of the European Commission.

Pressed by the MEPs, the experts admitted to having …