Monthly Briefing – June 2011 issue

In this month's briefing:

• Mamta Patel reports on experts' advice on the threat and opportunities posed by the REACH authorisation process;

• Industry needs to be aware of the issues raised by compliance with both the authorisation process and EU competition law, says Keller and Heckman's Marcus Navin-Jones;

• As the 2012 REACH review approaches, Mamta Patel reports on the debate at the Helsinki Chemicals Forum on what is missing from the Regulation;

• Is ECHA transparent enough? Mamta Patel, Emma Chynoweth and Philippa Jones hear what stakeholders think;

• Sean Milmo reports from the ISES/SETAC meeting on the current state of exposure science;

• Important changes will stem from the inclusion of the CLP Regulation's classification system in the revised version of the Seveso Directive, warns Vanessa Edwards and Raminta Dereskeviciute of K&L Gates;

• An EU Directive on the sustainable use of biocides would be in everyone's interest, including industry, says Pascal Michaux of EPPA;

• Elizabeth Grossman reports on what's happened to California's alternatives assessment proposals since they were sent back to the drawing board six months ago;

• After issuing guidelines for assessing impurities in cosmetics ingredients, China is preparing guidelines for the assessment of the ingredients themselves, says Martin Hu of REACH24H Consulting Group;

• Dr REACH, Steffen Erler, looks at why ECHA received so many updates to already submitted registration dossiers;

• In this month's legal spotlight, Jean-Philippe Montfort of Mayer Brown warns that reassessment of dossiers for substances put forward as intermediates is not straight forward;

• In the Guest Column spot, Lorenzo Zullo, ETRMA chemicals legislation advocacy coordinator, says the real challenges for downstream users are only just beginning.