<p>The importance of chemical use is enormous for areas such as agriculture, industry and medicine and hence a prerequisite for our modern society. In order to protect humans and the environment from the negative effects of chemical use, chemical regulations have been used at a relatively early stage in our history. The purpose of REACH, the new chemical regulation of the European Union, is to generate new knowledge of chemicals within the European market and to increase the responsibilities of the enterprises when it comes to risk management. Whether the enterprises will implement the regulations or not will be of vital importance for the realization of the law’s intentions.</p><p>The purpose of this study was to identify possibilities and problems that can occur when a downstream-user SME is about to implement REACH. Case study is the method by which this study has been carried out. Further, the study includes 20 smaller interviews with focus on smaller enterprises to address the generalization of the case study and to investigate the knowledge about REACH within this group of enterprises. The results from the case study showed three aspects that were important for this enterprise in the implementation process; the chosen enterprise had an active trade organization, the enterprise was a formulator and the size of the enterprise. The results from the telephone interviews showed that 12 of 20 enterprises were not aware of the new legislation but that there are differences between the subgroups of downstream-users. All of the interviewed formulators were aware of the legislation and had also started to work active towards implementing it, within the group of professional users only one of the enterprises were aware of the legislation. Further the telephone interviews did not show any clearly connection between the size of the enterprises and the level of knowledge about the new regulation, something that has been shown in earlier studies. Hence, there is a risk that the lack of knowledge will have a negative impact on the overall goal of REACH; to contribute to a sustainable development. From the results of this study it is motivated with directed information within this group of enterprises to overcome the lack of knowledge and to increase the chance that REACH will be a valuable contribution to a sustainable development within the chemical sector.</p>

The Regulation No. 1907/2006 on registration, evaluation, authorisation and restriction of chemical substances and on establishment of the European Chemicals Agency, the so-called REACH (Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemical substances) came into effect on 1 June 2007. The purpose of the Regulation has been to ensure safe functioning of the market with chemical substances and preparations and protection of human health and environment against effects of toxic substances. After a complete implementation of the Regulation the only substances and preparations produced and used in the European Union will be those with known toxicological properties, including data about their impact on the health of future generations. The thesis focuses on the description of the REACH Regulation, schedule of its implementation and its potential benefits for the improved effectiveness of rescue and liquidation works performed by members of the Integrated Rescue Service (IZS). Due to very limited sources available at the early stage of REACH implementation, the method selected for the work was consultations with experts directly specializing in the REACH legislation, managers of pharmaceutical or chemical companies managing work with toxic substances and IZS members. Expert opinions have been collected about the legislation process and about the situation in the industry. The Fire Rescue Service uses databases Medis Alarm, Rozex Alarm, TEREX and Trins for planning and implementation of its interventions. In 2013 {--} 2020 I expect bigger quantities of data obtained within the REACH framework to be transmitted into those databases; in that period it will be necessary for the IZS members to become familiar with REACH and with the implemented methods of transmission of toxicological data and to be able to critically evaluate available databases when planning an intervention under conditions of a potential threat posed by toxic substances to the health of IZS members, to the population in the surroundings and to the environment. I recommend to start teaching REACH as a topic at specialized schools so that future graduates are familiar with REACH at least theoretically.

The importance of chemical use is enormous for areas such as agriculture, industry and medicine and hence a prerequisite for our modern society. In order to protect humans and the environment from the negative effects of chemical use, chemical regulations have been used at a relatively early stage in our history. The purpose of REACH, the new chemical regulation of the European Union, is to generate new knowledge of chemicals within the European market and to increase the responsibilities of the enterprises when it comes to risk management. Whether the enterprises will implement the regulations or not will be of vital importance for the realization of the law’s intentions. The purpose of this study was to identify possibilities and problems that can occur when a downstream-user SME is about to implement REACH. Case study is the method by which this study has been carried out. Further, the study includes 20 smaller interviews with focus on smaller enterprises to address the generalization of the case study and to investigate the knowledge about REACH within this group of enterprises. The results from the case study showed three aspects that were important for this enterprise in the implementation process; the chosen enterprise had an active trade organization, the enterprise was a formulator and the size of the enterprise. The results from the telephone interviews showed that 12 of 20 enterprises were not aware of the new legislation but that there are differences between the subgroups of downstream-users. All of the interviewed formulators were aware of the legislation and had also started to work active towards implementing it, within the group of professional users only one of the enterprises were aware of the legislation. Further the telephone interviews did not show any clearly connection between the size of the enterprises and the level of knowledge about the new regulation, something that has been shown in earlier studies. Hence, there is a risk that the lack of knowledge will have a negative impact on the overall goal of REACH; to contribute to a sustainable development. From the results of this study it is motivated with directed information within this group of enterprises to overcome the lack of knowledge and to increase the chance that REACH will be a valuable contribution to a sustainable development within the chemical sector.