Upon the approval of the legislation on use of man-made
chemicals in EU, China urges domestic chemical exporters to be well
prepared for the new law.
The Registration, Evaluation, Authorization and Restriction of
Chemicals (REACH), which will be put into effect in June 2007,
requires exporting enterprises to submit technical files and
security evaluation report of chemical goods.
Most Chinese chemical enterprises have not made any preparations
for REACH so far, said Zhang Xiangchen, director of the WTO Affairs
Department of the Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM).
According to statistics, bilateral trade volume between EU and
China reached US$217.31 billion in 2005 with US$16.758 billion of
chemicals trade.
From January to October this year, chemical trade between China
and EU reached US$16 billion and the figure for the whole year is
expected to be US$19 billion.
Zhang said data collection and registration, evaluation and
authorization according to the REACH will be significant for
China-made chemicals to be accessible to the EU market.
All of those procedures will raise the cost and have some
effects on the operation of enterprises, he said.
Zhang urged Chinese enterprises to make preparations as soon as
possible and raise their risk controlling ability.
The MOFCOM will cooperate with domestic industrial associations
to give consultation and training services for domestic
enterprises, said Zhang.
(Xinhua News Agency December 20, 2006)