Braskem completes first phase of REACH legislation; enters next phase

23-Mar-09

Braskem, the Brazil's leading petrochemical companies has completed with the first phase of the European standard, called Reach (Registration, Evaluation and Authorisation of Chemicals), which went into affect in June 2007 and demands the identification of all the substances that compose chemical products exported to the continent. REACH demands the information about from the manufacturers about chemical substances put on the European market. The purpose is to guarantee that all chemical products, commercialized in the countries that compose the block, have all the information about environmental security and public health identified and tracked by the European community. "We now entered the project's second phase, which covers the detailing of toxicological, ecotoxicological, security and environmental impact information for each one of the substances pre-registered at ECHA. In this phase, the investments are estimated between 500 thousand and 3.5 million euros, since the detailed mapping can reach information about 6 thousand substances", says Aragão. As a result of the new European regulation, Braskem specifically assembled a multidisciplinary team of professionals, which was responsible for the survey of all the substances contained in the products (resins and basic petrochemicals) commercialized by the company in the European market. This first survey took more than a year to be finalized and approved by the European commission responsible for the adaptation process for Braskem to continue exporting to the continent. Besides this, Braskem will present the data in Substances Information Exchange Forums, the SIEFs, with the purpose of sharing information and reducing costs, besides saving time in the survey of data for new substances.