European Legislation

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There are many legislative instruments governing the chemical industry in Europe. However,

the REACH, CLP and BPR Regulations are reported to impact the business of most

companies of the European Economic Area i.e. the Member States of the European Union

and Iceland, Norway and Liechtenstein.

 REACH is the regulation for the Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of chemicals (EC) No 1907/2006. It is the primary EU law on chemicals and impacts substances on their own, in mixtures and in articles, across all sectors of use. 

CLP is the regulation for the Classification, Labelling and Packaging of substances and mixtures (EC) No 1272/2008. It operates alongside the REACH Regulation to ensure that the hazardous properties of chemicals are established by classification and identified through labelling.

BPR is the Biocidal Products Regulation (EU) 528/2012. Biocidal products are designed to protect humans, animals, materials and articles against harmful organisms, such as pests or bacteria. However, biocidal products can also present risks to humans, animals and the environment due to their intrinsic properties and the way in which they are used. This is addressed by the BPR.

Directive 2012/18/EU on the control of major-accident hazards involving dangerous substances, otherwise known as the Seveso Directive was originally introduced in 1982 to prevent major-accident hazards involving dangerous substances, following a chemical accident at an industrial plant in Seveso, Italy in 1976.