1 Regulation (EC) No 1907/2006 of the European EP and of the Council of 18 December 2006.

2 According to industry sources, the chemicals sector is one of the largest industries in the EU. It employs around 4 million people directly and indirectly. The EU chemicals industry has a global market share of 30 % making it the world leader. In 2005 the EC exported chemicals for €110 billion and imports were €72 billion, creating a trade surplus of €38 billion. The EC chemicals industry comprises around 27.000 companies but is dominated by a few multinational companies which produce some 70 % of output. In 2004 the main producers were Germany (25 % of EU total), France (16 % of EU total), Italy (12 % of EU total) and the UK (10 % of EU total) [Source: European Chemical Industry Council website <http://www.cefic.org>].

3 Beck, Ulrich, Risikogesellschaft. Auf dem Weg in eine andere Moderne (Frankfurt am Main: Suhrkamp Verlag 1986)Google Scholar; Luhmann, Niklas, Soziologie des Risikos (Berlin: de Gruyter 1991).Google Scholar

4 Hence, the objective is not to evaluate whether the substantial mission of Reach is a meaningful enterprise, but merely to reflect on the possible value of its regulatory model within the wider context of the integration process.

5 Directive 67/548/EEC of the Council of 27 June 1967 on the approximation of laws, regulations and administrative provisions relating to the classification, packaging and labelling of dangerous substances.

6 Directive 79/831/EEC of the Council of 18 September 1979 amending Directive 67/548/EEC of the Council of 27 June 1967 on the approximation of laws, regulations and administrative provisions relating to the classification, packaging and labelling of dangerous substances.

7 Directive 92/32/EEC of the Council of 30 April 1992 amending Directive 67/548/EEC of the Council of 27 June 1967 on the approximation of laws, regulations and administrative provisions relating to the classification, packaging and labelling of dangerous substances.

8 Directive 76/769/EEC of the Council of 27 July 1976 relating to restrictions on the marketing and use of certain dangerous substances and preparations.

9 Directive 88/379/EEC of the Council of 7 June 1988 relating to the classification, packaging and labelling of dangerous preparations, revised by Directive 1999/45 EC of the European EP and the Council of 31 May 1999.

10 Regulation (EEC) No 793/1993 of the Council of 23 March 1993 on evaluation and control of risks of existing substances.

11 European Chemical Industry Council website <http://www.cefic.org>.

12 For a very useful and detailed account of the policy process especially in relation to the role of impact assessments, see Meuwese, Anne C.M., Impact Assessment in EU Lawmaking (The Hague: Kluwer Law International, 2008), pp. 186 et sqq.Google Scholar

13 More specifically, of the amended version of Directive 67/548/EEC of the Council of 27 June 1967 on the approximation of laws, regulations and administrative provisions relating to the classification, packaging and labelling of dangerous substances, Directive 76/769/EEC of the Council of 27 July 1976 relating to restricions on the marketing and use of certain dangerous substances and preparations, Directive 88/379/EEC of the Council of 7 June 1988 relating to the classification, packaging and labelling of dangerous preparations, revised by Directive 1999/45 EC of the European EP and the Council of 31 May 1999, Regulation (EEC) No 793/1993 of the Council 23 March 1993 on evaluation and control of the risks of existing substances.

14 Commission White Paper “Strategy for a Future Chemicals Policy”, COM (2001) 88 final, pp. 6 et sqq.

15 Commission Working Document SEC (1998) 1986 Final.

16 Commission White Paper “Strategy for a Future Chemicals Policy”, supra note 14.

17 The position of the EC Chemicals industry is available on the Internet at <http://cms.cefic.be/Templates/shwStory.asp?NID=494&HID=448>.

18 For the complete list of submissions see the Internet at <http://ECropa.EC/enterprise/reach/consultation/public_en.htm>.

19 The impact of Reach on third countries and other regimes such as the WTO regime are manifold but falls outside the scope of this article. But see, e.g., Fisher, Elizabeth, “The ‘Perfect Storm’ of Reach: Charting Regulatory Controversy in the Age of Information, Sustainable Development, and Globalization”, 11(4) Journal of Risk Research (2008), pp. 541 et sqq. CrossRefGoogle Scholar and Scott, Joanne, “From Brussels with Love: The Transatlantic Travels of European Law and the Chemistry of Regulatory Attraction”, 57(4) American Journal of Comparative Law (2009), pp. 897 et sqq.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

20 European Commission, DG Environment website <http://ec.ECropa.EC/environment/chemicals/background/impact_assessment_intro.htm>.

21 The letter is available on the Internet at <http://www.smallbusinessEurope.org/en/upload/File/Issues/REACH/Letter_to_Prodi_from_Blair_Chirac_Schroder.doc>.

22 Commission Proposal for a Regulation concerning Registration, Evaluation, Authorization and Restriction of Chemicals (REACH), establishing the European Chemicals Agency and Amending Directive 1999/45/EC, COM(2003)644 of 29 October 2003. See also Meuwese, Impact Assessment in EU Lawmaking, supra note 12, p. 200.

23 The changes did not only take place because of resistance from the major MS and European industries but also because of fierce criticism from major trading partners, notably the United States.

24 World Trade Organization, notification G/TBT/N/EEC/52 of 21 January 2004. The EC response is available on the Internet at the European Commission, DG Enterprise website <http://ec.ECropa.EC/enterprise/reach/docs/reach/EC_wto_response_041028.pdf>.

25 The report is available on the Internet at <http://ec.ECropa.EC/enterprise/reach/docs/trial/sport_report_050704.pdf>.

26 European EP Legislative Resolutions P6_TA(2005)0434 and P6- TA(2005)0435 of 17 November 2005.

27 Common Positions of the Council of the European Union 7524/06 and 7525/06 of 12 June 2006.

28 Communication from the Commission to the European EP COM (2006) 375 final, p. 3.

29 Ibid.

30 Decision 1999/468/EC of the Council of 28 June 1999, Article 5a. Decision amended by Decision 2006/512/EC of the Council.

31 Regulation (EC) No 1907/2006 of the European EP and of the Council of 18 December 2006, preamble, recital 1.

32 Ibid., preamble, recital 4.

33 Ibid., preamble, recital 12.

34 European Environmental Law Website <http://www.eel.nl/index.asp?sub_categorie=243>.

35 Regulation (EC) No 1907/2006 of the European EP and of the Council of 18 December 2006, preamble, recital 31.

36 For a very instructive analysis of the hybridity of Reach see also Hey, Christian, Jacob, Klaus and Volkery, Axel, “Better Regulation by New Governance Hybrids? Governance Models and the Reform of European Chemicals Policy”, 15 Journal of Cleaner Production (2007), pp 1859 et sqq CrossRefGoogle Scholar. Hey et al., however, argues that hybridity is a new phenomenon within the EU which can be traced back to the introduction of “new modes of governance”. For the view that what are commonly understood as new modes of governance and hybridity in general by no means are new features of European integration see Kjaer, Poul F., Between Governing and Governance: On the Emergence, Function and Form of Europe's Post-national Constellation (Oxford: Hart Publishing 2010).Google Scholar

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47 To the three main forms of governance structures mentioned above one could also add mutual recognition, the partnership concept, originally developed within the context of Community structural founding, the so-called social dialogue as developed under the framework of the Maastricht Treaty, and the concept of Environmental Policy Integration. See also; Scott, Joanne and Trubek, David M., “Mind the Gap: Law and New Approaches to Governance in the European Union”, 8(1) European Law Journal (2002), pp.1 et sqq.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

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53 The EU does not fulfill Pierre Bourdieu's revised Weberian definition of the state either, as he defines the state as the institution which “successfully claims the monopoly of the legitimate use of physical and symbolic violence over a definite territory and over the totality of the corresponding population”. See Bourdieu, Pierre, “Rethinking the State: Genesis and Structure of the Bureaucratic Field”, 12(1) Sociological Theory (1994), pp. 1 et sqq., at p. 3.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

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63 For example, Molyneux, Candido Garcia, “IV. Chemicals”, in The Yearbook of European Environmental Law, Vol. 6 (Oxford: Oxford University Press 2006).Google Scholar

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65 Commission Communication on the Precautionary Principle COM (2000)1 Final, 2 February 2000.

66 Ibid., pp. 21 et sqq.

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72 Ibid., at p. 69.

73 The Lisbon Treaty introduces a distinction between delegated and implementing acts and reduces the scope of Comitology to the latter. How this change will affect the Comitology system in the long term remains to be seen.