Taking early strategic decisions on candidate list substances from October 2008

As soon as the first Candidate List was published in October 2008, REACH Article 33 (1) places a legal obligation on all EU component suppliers to inform manufacturers further down the supply chain whether their components contain any of the Candidate List substances in concentrations > 0.1% weight by weight (w/w) of the component.

All EU manufacturers should insist that their EU suppliers comply with their legal obligations under Article 33 (1) so that the manufacturers can make early strategic decisions on whether to design-out components which contain Candidate List substances. Many manufacturers will choose to phase out Candidate List substances from their equipment for the following reasons:

  • For uses not covered by a permanent exemption in Annex XIV, the continued manufacturing of components in the EU which contain these substances will depend on whether an authorisation is issued by the European Commission. There is no guarantee that the Commission will issue an authorisation. Furthermore, each authorisation will be for a limited time period after which the authorisation will be reviewed and could be removed. Continued use of these components represents a business risk to the manufacturer that the components may no longer be available in the EU.
  • To avoid this business risk, most companies will choose to phase out components containing the Candidate List substances where possible. As a result, companies that continue to use components containing these substances will find that they become more expensive and have less availability.
  • From October 2008, REACH places a legal obligation on manufacturers and importers to disclose to consumers on request whether their finished equipment contains > 0.1% w/w of any Candidate List substance. This allows consumers to choose whether to buy equipment which contain these substances of very high concern. As consumer awareness of these substances increases, this will bring increasing pressure for manufacturers to phase out the use of these substances.

For further information, please contact Dr Aidan Turnbull
Head of WEEE, RoHS & EcoDesign on +44 (0)1225 748420