REACH Exemptions

Substances Outside the Scope of REACH

The main REACH exemptions fall into three groups: substances outside the scope of REACH, substances regarded as registered, and substances exempt only from registration.

Under REACH Article 2(1)–(3), the following are outside the scope of REACH altogether:

radioactive substances (covered by Euratom radiation protection legislation, Directive 2013/59/Euratom);
substances under customs supervision that do not undergo any treatment or processing and are in temporary storage, a free zone or free warehouse for re-export, or in transit;
non-isolated intermediates;
the carriage of dangerous substances by rail, road, inland waterway, sea or air;
waste as defined in the Waste Framework Directive (2008/98/EC), which is not a substance, mixture or article;
specific exemptions granted by Member States in the interests of defence.

These exemptions are interpreted narrowly. For example, the customs exemption applies only while goods are not released for free circulation. Isolated intermediates (on-site or transported) are not exempt: they must be registered, but with reduced information requirements under strictly controlled conditions.

Substances Regarded as Registered

Active substances and co-formulants manufactured or imported only for use in plant protection products and approved under Regulation (EC) No 1107/2009 (Article 15(1));
active substances used only in biocidal products and approved under Regulation (EU) No 528/2012 (Article 15(2));
new substances notified under Directive 67/548/EEC (NONS), for the notifier only. ECHA has assigned registration numbers to these notifications, which must be updated, for example when the next tonnage band is reached (Article 24).

This status applies only to the specified use: if, for example, a biocidal active substance is also used in a non-biocidal product, registration may be required for that use.

Substances Exempt from Registration

The following are exempt from registration:

Annex IV and Annex V substances (Article 2(7)(a) and (b)), for example substances occurring in nature such as minerals, ores and ore concentrates, cement clinker, natural gas, liquefied petroleum gas, natural gas condensate, process gases and components thereof, crude oil, coal and coke, if they are not chemically modified, and certain substances with well-known, minimal risks listed in Annex IV, such as water, nitrogen and some noble gases.
Polymers (Article 2(9)); however, unregistered monomers and other substances must be registered if they make up 2% w/w or more of the polymer and their total quantity is 1 tonne or more per year (Article 6(3)).
Re-imported substances (Article 2(7)(c)) registered in the EU, exported and re-imported in the same supply chain, provided the substance is the same and the information under Articles 31 or 32 is available.
Recovered substances (Article 2(7)(d)), if the recovered substance is the same as a registered substance and the Article 31 or 32 information is available to the recovery facility.
Substances used in food, feed and medicinal products (Article 2(5)), which are covered by their own legislation.
Product and process orientated research and development (PPORD): a 5-year exemption from registration, subject to notification to ECHA, which can be extended (Article 9).
Scientific research and development below 1 tonne per year.

Nanomaterials are within the scope of REACH. Since 1 January 2020, registrations must include specific information on nanoforms (Commission Regulation (EU) 2018/1881).

Important: most REACH exemptions apply only to registration. Obligations such as CLP classification and labelling, Safety Data Sheets, Annex XVII restrictions and Candidate List duties may still apply. Detailed conditions are explained on ECHA’s REACH registration page; contact our experts to check which REACH exemptions apply to your products.

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REACH Exemptions