1. REACH Regulation

Since 2007, REACH Regulation 793/93/EC has required all products placed on the market to be registered, assessed and approved by the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA). This regulation radically changes the way chemical substances are marketed, and the way it works has been described in detail at .

For a better appreciation of the role of analytical physics in all stages of its application, however, it is worth recalling the essential principles here. There are some 100,000 substances on the market, and before the regulation came into force, Member States were only required to carry out risk assessments on the most hazardous substances and those manufactured in quantities of over 1,000 t/year. However, in...