REACH Regulations Impact Supply Chain Process

Filed in archive Research on September 22, 2011

© FeatheredTar

The European regulatory regime known as REACH seems to be constantly under revision, as every six months they are updating their list of substances that manufacturers are required to identify in their products and often required to disclose to their customers. Annually REACH places a subset of these substances on the fast-track to restriction, leading to constant pressure on manufacturers to update their supply chain process.

REACH has been especially focused on chemical manufacturers, but the regulators now are turning their attention towards article manufacturers as well. The current view of what constitutes an article is changing, so that REACH no longer considers a desktop computer system an article, but rather 5 separate articles. This will greatly expand the reporting required through the supply chain, and could drive extensive change soon.