The new EU chemicals regulation, REACH, requires that chemical substances on their own, in preparations and those which are intentionally released from articles have to be registered to the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA).  REACH is the Regulation for Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals.  It entered into force on June 1st 2007 to streamline and improve the former legislative framework on chemicals of the EU.  It replaces about 40 pieces of legislation with a streamlined and improved Regulation.  The regulation applies to substances manufactured in, or imported to the EU in annual quantities of 1 tonne or more per company, unless the regulation indicates otherwise.

The obligation to register applies from June 1st 2008.  The chemicals currently on the EU market which meet the definition of phase-in substances should be pre-registered between June 1st and December 1st 2008.  Companies who pre-register their substances can benfit from extended registration deadlines.  The deadline depends on the tonnage band and the hazardous properties of the substance.  The deadlines are:

• 30 November 2010
• 31 May 2013 or
• 31 May 2018

Pre-registration requires only limited data and there is no fee associated to it. 

When you start preparing for REACH you should first know what roles your company may have in relation to its substances. The following roles are relevant for pre-registration:

• Manufacturer / importer of substances
• Producer / importer of articles
• Only representative
• Downstream user
• Distributor
• Data holder

You need to know all chemical substances your company manufactures, imports and/or uses. Establishing this knowledge is a critical step in getting ready for REACH. You may compile your inventory using any solution that suits your company size, commercial activity and information systems.

A pre-registration can be only carried out electronically via the REACH-IT portal on the ECHA website, where you need to sign-up and create an account for your company. To ensure an easy submission of your files please ensure that you have all necessary information in hand before you enter the REACH-IT pre-registration module.

The REACH-IT module will allow a pre-registrant to see who else has pre-registered the same substance. The information is displayed on a substance specific pre-Substance Information Exchange Forum (SIEF) page. This page provides general information on the substance and company specific information.

Companies who have pre-registered a substance will automatically become listed on the pre-SIEF page of this substance. ECHA will publish by 1 January 2009, a list of pre-registered substances on its website. The list will comprise of all substances that have been pre-registered by 1 December 2008.  A SIEF is a forum to share data and other information on a given substance. Participants in a SIEF are free to organize themselves in consortia or other forms of agreements.

When potential registrants in a SIEF have shared and assessed the available data they will prepare the common parts of their registration file, a so called joint submission. The other parts of their registration file will have to be submitted separately.

More info ? click here

Customs4trade will join Porthus at easyFair “Transport & Logistiek 2008″.  This fair takes place on May 7th and 8th at the Jaarbeurs in Utrecht. 

During this fair, we will present you the E-learning modules of the World Customs Organisation.      

Visit us at booth 3238 for a presentation of more information about these training packages  !

Location: Jaarbeurs Utrecht, Jaarbeursplein 6, 3521 AL Utrecht

The Multi Annual Strategic Plan (MASP) aims to harmonise and automate the exchanges of Customs & Excise within the European Union.  The aim of the MASP program is to implement an electronic customs in the EU by replacing the customs procedures on paper by electronic procedures.  In this project, each member state is responsible for the correct local implementation of the MASP.  The Belgian Authorities have, in this perspective, built a dedicated site providing information relating to the local development in Belgium: MASP.be. This site fonctions as communication channel about the project to all concerned parties and will be regularly updated.  C4T will keep you updated with summaries of the given presentations. 

Source: De Lloyd Multimodaal en Internationaal Transportnieuws, 23rd April

In Belgium, the decision on AEO Certificates might be taken in autumn.  The 12 companies involved in the Belgian pilotproject will probably have this honour.  The applications forms are still centralised in Brussels, but their follow-up is since 15th april in the hands of the regional directories.  According to the Regional Director in Antwerp, Mr. Michaël Van Giel, the Antwerp AEO-team is treating 18 applications in different stadia of the process.  Van Giel takes into account that the 12 pilots could still obtain their status during summer.

On 16th April, the first AEO-certificates (Authorised Economic Operator) have been handed over to 19 companies in Rotterdam.  With this certification, the Dutch Customs Authorities indicate that these companies are trustworthy partners.  The 19 companies were all involved in the Dutch AEO pilotproject. 

As holder of an AEO certificate, these companies now qualify for customs simplifications at the external borders of the European Union, which means that they 

• can qualify for a preceding notification at controls

• will have less physical and documentary controls of your consignments

• are given priorty in case of customs controls

• can request that the control is held at different place

 More info about the Belgian Authorized Economic Operators