REACH Only Representative
REACH requires all companies manufacturing or placing a substance on the EU market in quantities greater than 1 ton/yr to register that substance with the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA).
For legal reasons, only companies with a legal entity in Europe are allowed to submit a registration; however, non-EU companies may submit registration by appointing an EU-based Only Representative to register on their behalf, in which case their importers will be regarded as downstream users and do not need to do registrations.
Benefits of Appointing REACH Only Representative (OR)
- Relieve importers of their obligations to register and obtain continued market access in the EU(many EU importers will try to avoid registrations by asking their suppliers to register);
- Avoid dependence on a single importer and keep market access should one EU importer cease trading;
- Gain advantages over other non-EU suppliers who do not appoint OR to register their substances;
Note: Importers will be exempt from REACH registration if their non-EU suppliers have registered; however, importers need to confirm with their suppliers’ Only Representative that they are included in the inventory of importers and their tonnage and uses are covered by the OR.
This can be done by asking for REACH Certificate of Compliance from the only representative of their suppliers before they put chemicals in the EU market.
Who Can Be Appointed as REACH Only Representative?
An Only Representative must be an EU-based legal entity that has a sufficient background in the practical handling of substances and the information related to them required by the REACH regulation Article 8(2). To be more specific, an only representative shall:
- have the ability/expertise to understand and implement the responsibilities of an importer that only representatives take on under the provisions of REACH (pre-registration, registration, authorization, etc);
- be capable of keeping an up-to-date list of EU importers within the same supply chain of the non-EU manufacturer it represents;
- have a record-keeping system with data on imported quantities and all uses covered; be capable of keeping the latest information on the supply of safety data sheets;
Our REACH Only Representative Services
What Do We Do as REACH Only Representative?
In according to Article 8 of REACH, OR is taking full obligations of importers under REACH, in which case importers will be regarded as downstream users (thus do not need to register). Those obligations include:
- Maintain pre-registration data(company identity, annual tonnage, etc ) submitted to ECHA through REACH-IT;
- Represent your company in SIEF/Consortium after pre-registration and keep you informed of the latest progress of SIEF/Consortium;
- Supply Safety Data Sheets or transmit SDS along the supply chain and keep information on the supply of the latest update of the SDS;
- Communicate with EU importers and regulatory authorities and issue necessary documents to ensure REACH compliance;
- Keep an up-to-date list inventory of importers and the tonnage covered for each of these importers and keep above information for at least 10 years and provide it to enforcement authorities upon request;
- May fulfill more obligations such as registration, notification and authorization(additional contract needed);
How to Change REACH Only Representative?
Non-EU companies have a right to change only representative if unsatisfied.,
Changing OR can be tricky. It is easy to terminate relationship with your current OR. However, once you terminate this relationship, you can no longer enjoy the benefits of extended registration deadline and need to do registration immediately. One way around it is to get your previous OR to agree to transfer REACH-IT account.
Info: Contractual agreement is needed. If your previous OR does not agree OR transfer, please contact us for more solutions.