CBA confirms SMEs REACH fears

The European Commission’s release of a draft budget for the European Chemicals Agency has confirmed the worst fears of SMEs regarding REACH fees, says the Chemical Business Association (CBA), previously the BCDTA.

The CBA says that the budget has soared from €359m to €1.19bn, up 230%. “The Commission maintains that many of the additional costs have resulted from the extra responsibilities imposed on the Agency by political decisions. This may well be but the fact remains that the chemical industry is being asked to pick up the tab - which will only serve to erode the competitiveness of the sector and damage SMEs,” says Melvyn White, chairman of the CBA’s Reach task force.

That means, says the CBA, that the full base registration fee for an SME producing 1-10 tonnes a year has risen from €400 to €900, or from €400 to €500 for consortium participants registering. Companies dealing in 10-100 tonnes will have to pay €2443 rather than €400, or €1368 if they belong to a consortium. The good news for those handling 100-1000 tonnes is that their fee may well decrease from €8000 to €6631 (€3714 for consortia), but there is a massive hike for producers of 1000 tonnes and above. Their fee is set to rise from €8000 to €18,000, or a more modest €10,080 for consortia.

The CBA says that the higher budget is partly due to the location of the Agency in Helsinki, where it says there is a lack of suitably qualified specialised and administrative staff and where living costs are extremely high. It says it is concerned that companies are being pushed towards consortia.