Intertek expands its REACH services portfolio

Intertek (www.intertek.com), the leading provider of quality and safety services to a wide range of industries, has expanded its REACH services portfolio by providing services to meet the additional requirement to disclose the presence of 15 new REACH Substances of Very High Concern (SVHC). This has expanded the SVHC list (Candidate List) to no less than 30 SVHCs.

An SVHC is a chemical substance that is subject to requirements under the REACH (Registration Evaluation, and Authorization of Chemicals) Regulation in the European Union. On December 7, 2009, the ECHA Member State committee voted unanimously to add no less than 15 additional substances to the SVHC Candidate List, for a total of 30 substances. Compliance is required immediately in January 2010. The expansion of the SVHC list is part of a long term European Union strategy to regulate and limit the use of hazardous substances.

Once a substance is added to the SVHC Candidate List, REACH imposes immediate obligations on manufacturers and importers to disclose the presence of these substances in their products. The regulation mandates that manufacturers and importers of articles are required to notify their customers and users on the presence of Substances of Very High Concern (SVHC) in any of their products when exceeding 0.1% by weight and provide instructions on safe use of the product.

Intertek offers SVHC testing and assessment services to assist companies determine the presence or amount of SVHC substances in their products. If a product is determined to contain any SVHCs, Intertek can provide risk assessments to identify in which assembly, component or material the SVHC is present, identify other products in your portfolio that have a risk, create a replacement strategy, and prepare REACH disclosure documentation and safe use instructions fulfilling the REACH requirements while assuring your business in the EU is not interrupted.

Intertek also offers an optional industry-leading 'wide scan' testing approach which includes data and sample storage. If a future substance is added to the SVHC list, which can occur in as little as three (3) months, Intertek can review the 'wide-scan' data to provide a level of confidence of the presence of the newly added SVHC in the original test sample. By using 'wide-scan' testing with data storage and review, Intertek customers have a reasonable level of confidence in being able to handle new SVHC substances without unnecessarily re-testing products.

"Intertek is immediately able to support the expanded requirements using our global laboratories and specialist network" states Dr. Ruud Overbeek, Vice President of Intertek's Health and Environmental Services, Restricted Substances and REACH. "This assures our customers will have immediate services available where needed to comply with these added disclosure requirements in the EU."