ECHA’s inspection plan on OR duties

Announced on its official page in June 2024, the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) Enforcement Forum will soon launch a pilot enforcement project focusing solely on Only Representatives (OR) who have done the REACH registration on behalf of the non-EU suppliers.

The authorities will carefully check the following points:

1. if the tonnages are registered correctly
2. if the OR keeps records of importers updated
3. if SDS obligations are fulfilled
4. and all other OR obligations are respected according to Article 8 of REACH regulation.

The project aims to spot non-compliant cases where OR duties are not fully covered, as well as identify potentially fraudulent or unqualified Only Representative service providers. The ultimate target is maintaining a compliant trading field by monitoring OR activities.

Therefore, to ensure that the exporting operations of non-EU suppliers and manufacturers to the EU continue smoothly, all OR service providers will need to double-check the manufacturer details, tonnages, importer information, and other matters of the registered substances and fill in the gaps immediately. By acting according to the Regulations and authority notifications, non-EU companies will benefit from smooth trading activities and a good reputation in the supply chain while avoiding penalties and shipping delays.

This ECHA inspection will also bring good opportunities for the industry to filter out unqualified ORs and to improve the overall quality of chemical and product compliance in the EU.  

Legal background on Only Representative

Article 8 of REACH Regulation (EC) No. 1907/2006 sets out the definition and duties of Only Representative:

1. A natural or legal person established outside the EU Community who manufactures a substance on its own, in mixturesor articles, formulates a mixture or produces an article that is imported into the EU Community may by mutual agreement appoint a natural or legal person established in the EU Community to fulfill, as his only representative, the obligations on importers under this Title.
2. The representative shall also comply with all other obligations of importers under this Regulation. To this end, he shall have a sufficient background in the practical handling of substances and the information related to them and, without prejudice to Article 36, shall keep available and up-to-date information on quantities imported and customers sold to, as well as information on the supply of the latest update of the safety data sheet referred to in Article 31.
3. If a representative is appointed according to paragraphs 1 and 2, the non-EU manufacturer shall inform the importer(s) within the same supply chain of the appointment. These importers will be regarded as downstream users for this Regulation.

Chementors as an OR

Chementors has been acting for several years as an Only Representative for non-EU suppliers that function under the REACH Regulation. As an OR, our regulatory experts handle all required obligations according to Article 8 on behalf of the non-EU clients, so that they can rest assured and focus resources on other business matters.

As a member of the Only Representative Organization (ORO) and REACHReady Organization, we discuss and keep updated with best practices and the latest information on EU REACH Only Representative topics to maintain the sufficient competency of a qualified OR.

Carefully following up on the authority notices and seriously acting in accordance with regulations are critical parts of compliance. Chementors continues working closely with the non-EU companies to ensure the fulfillment of all OR obligations.

Contact us if you want to know more about our OR service.