Sunoco is actively addressing a new European law entitled Registration, Evaluation, Authorization and Restriction of CHemicals (REACH). The law, which takes effect on June 1, 2007, creates one registration system for chemicals for all European Union (EU) member states.
REACH affects all supply chain companies marketing chemicals or products containing chemicals that are manufactured, imported, used as intermediates, or sold in the EU. Registration for chemicals and substances will begin in 2008 and then chemicals will be evaluated for a wide range of health and safety endpoints, whether physical, chemical, or biological.
REACH is intended to address the current inconsistencies in information available on chemicals, to minimize the costs of providing this data, and to take precautionary action on the most problematic of substances through authorization or restriction of applications.
Efforts to comply with REACH are currently underway, and include identification of EU destined products, customers, and product applications. Sunoco is preparing to evaluate product-specific data needs that may exist for each substance and assist in dossier preparation. As registration packages are completed, we will develop long range business plans to address authorization or restriction of Sunoco products in European markets.