Is REACH Consistent With WTO?

Europe accounts for nearly fifty percents share of world import of chemicals, thevalue of chemicals imported in2007is more than160billion. Countries exportingchemicals to EU mainly are United States, China, Switzerland, Singapore, Japan,Russia and the ACP. EU is an influential performer on the international stage, its anychange of chemical rules will undoubtedly affect international trade. The EU enactedand adopted the new rule of REACH in2007, it not only represents a comprehensiverevision of the EU chemicals management mechanisms, and will cause some panic inthe field of WTO.So far, the operation of the REACH regulation has been three years, the purposeof EU is to protect human health in the course of using chemicals and its relatedproducts, and protect environmental security. Though the intention of the REACHmay be good, to the statute itself and its implementation, many queries and realisticchallenges have occurred. REACH， as the regulation which EU establishedunilaterally, its influence to the trade of developing countries, and how to protectdeveloping countries’ interests is the important issues which the thesis study. Themain body of this thesis is composed of four parts：Part one is overall dissertation of the REACH, it is the new European Regulationfor Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals. It enteredinto force on1st June2007to streamline and improve the former legislativeframework on new and on existing chemical substances of the European Union.Companies which manufacture or import more than1ton of a substance per year willbe required to register the substance at the new EU Chemicals Agency located inHelsinki. REACH places greater responsibility on industry to manage the risks thatchemicals may pose to the health and the environment and to provide safety information that will be passed down the supply chain. In principle, REACH appliesto all chemicals as such, as components in preparations and as used in articles.REACH is a radical step forward in the EU chemicals management. The onus willmove from the authorities to industry. In addition, REACH will allow the furtherevaluation of substances where there are grounds for concern, foresees anauthorisation system for the use of substances of very high concern and a system ofrestrictions, where applicable, for substances of concern. The Authorisation systemwill require companies to switch progressively to safer alternatives where a suitablealternative exists.Part two introduces the relationship between REACH and WTO rules. With thedevelopment of economic globalization and international competition increasing, thegrowing trend toward the integration and collectivization of the regional economic inthe world, trade protectionism transfers from individual countries to regional tradeorganizations, The REACH is a typical example. Although the purpose of theREACH Regulation conforms to the sustainable developmental theory of WTO, but itviolate of other principles of the WTO, TBT Agreement is a multilateral tradeagreement under the jurisdiction of WTO, the signing of the agreement is to guidemember countries to adopt international standards and conformity assessmentprocedures, help them formulate and implement scientific technical trade barriers, toensure that the technical standards which member states adopt and implement won’tgenerate unnecessary obstacles to trade, in order to reduce and eliminate technicalbarriers to trade. REACH violate the following principles of TBT: principle oftransparency, principle of avoiding unnecessary trade barriers, principle ofinternational coordination, principle of national treatment. And take the onlyrepresentative body for example, to address the violation of the four principlesspecifically.The third part focuses on the impact of REACH on trade and development indeveloping countries. This section first introduces that in the matter of application ofREACH, multinational and domestic enterprises in developing countries, due toeconomic strength, technological capability gaps, have degree of difficulty incomplying with REACH. Take ACP countries group for example, specifically analyze the impact on the employment of labor, government revenue and macroeconomicwhich REACH brought to developing countries. Enterprises in developing countriesexport chemical products to EU, need to pay the registration fees, testing fees andother fees, at the same time, developing countries also benefit from REACH, forexample, we can gain the information on chemical hazards and safety continuously,improve the measures on protecting of human health and environmental safety, so asto gradually reduce the possibility of damage to human and environment fromnational chemical industry.The fourth part analyzes how to protect the interests of developing countries.REACH make the enterprises of developing countries, especially small andmedium-sized enterprises, confront many technical and financial obstacles andchallenges while exporting chemical products to the EU, it is necessary for the EU toprovide help and support to these enterprises to protect the interests of developingcountries. The main methods of protecting the interests of developing countries are:providing technical support and latest information on REACH regulation todeveloping countries and businesses; providing assistance to small and medium-sizedenterprises; increasing the obligation of sharing data on registered companies;implementing the principle of one substance, one registration. The EU governmentand related society institutions should help and support developing countries and theirenterprises effectively, to make them overcome the trade barriers, and handle with theREACH easily, consequently to reinforce the trade contacts with EU. At the sametime, developing countries should also make full use of the dispute settlementmechanism of WTO to protect their legitimate interests.