In an effort to increase and harmonize controls of compliance with the REACH Regulation (EC 1907/2006) in all EU Member States and renew enforcement provisions as part of the ongoing revision to the Regulation, the European Commission is considering the possibility to establish a regular and targeted audit system.
The Strategy on Chemicals for Sustainability (CSS) mandates the Commission to conduct audits in member states to ensure compliance and enforcement, and commits to a proposal to amend REACH for the introduction of the European Audit Capacity (EAC).
The EAC would fulfill his role through:
- Auditing the official control systems of the various member states and their functioning against common criteria as well;
- Identifying the possible weaknesses in the control system and their possible causes;
- Recommendations to Member States on how to address their own control failures.
As of today, there is nothing decided and therefore the manner in which checks on companies would be carried out has not yet been discussed.
However, it is most likely that either the Commission or ECHA would oversee the controls, as the creation of a new audit body would have major political, legal and budget implications, as well as taking a long time to set up.
We will keep you updated on future developments.
