European Commission passes REACH regulation on carbon and graphite

Released on Thursday 9th October 2008

The European Commission published a regulation (COMMISSION REGULATION (EC) No 987/2008). This regulation follows the EC’s decision to delete both carbon (CAS No. 7440-44-0) and graphite (CAS No. 7782-42-5) from ANNEX IV of REACH (Registration, Evaluation, Authorization, and Restriction of Chemicals), which identifies substances that are exempted from the registration, evaluation and downstream user provisions of REACH on the basis that sufficient information is known about these substances so that they are considered to cause minimum risk because of their intrinsic properties (Article 2(7)(a)).

 

The regulation states:

‘The review carried out by the Commission pursuant to Article 138(4) has revealed that three substances listed in Annex IV should be removed from that Annex, as insufficient information is known about these substances for them to be considered as causing minimum risk because of their intrinsic properties. This is the ‘case with carbon and graphite, in particular due to the fact that the concerned EINECS and/or CAS numbers are used to identify forms of carbon or graphite at the nano-scale, which do not meet the criteria for inclusion in this Annex [ANNEX IV].’

Follow these links for more information, or to download the corresponding EC Regulation.

 

 

Related Links

The four trade association CEFIC (European Chemical Industry Council), NIA (Nanotechnology Industries Association), Eurometaux (European Association of Metals), and IMA (Industrial Minerals Association) – Europe submitted joint comments on two documents, presented by the European Commission to the 1st Meeting of the newly-established REACH Competent Authorities subgroup on Nanomaterials (CASG Nano) (held on the 1st and 2nd July 2008). (1st September 2008)
 
According to Dow Jones International News, the European Commission decided last week to include carbon and graphite among substances that require testing under the E.U.'s new chemical safety law - known as REACH. This verdict is based on the decision to accept an application for deletion of both carbon (CAS No. 7440-44-0) and graphite (CAS No. 7782-42-5) from ANNEX IV of REACH, which identifies substances that are exempted from the registration, evaluation and downstream user provisions of REACH on the basis that sufficient information is known about these substances so that they are considered to cause minimum risk because of their intrinsic properties (Article 2(7)(a)). (9th June 2008)

 

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