Ukraine notifies WTO of REACH-like Technical Regulation on the Safety of Chemical Products

On 20 September, the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Natural Resources of Ukraine notified the draft Technical Regulation on the Safety of Chemical Products to the World Trade Organisation (WTO). This notification signals Ukraine's commitment to aligning its regulatory framework with international practices.

This draft regulation draws inspiration from and seeks to incorporate most of the provisions found in Regulation (EC) No 1907/2006 of the European Parliament and of the Council of December 2006, concerning the Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation, and Restriction of Chemicals (REACH). By doing so, Ukraine aims to harmonize its standards with those of the European Union.

Stakeholders and interested parties now have a 60-day window, starting from the date of notification, to provide their input on this proposed regulation, contributing to the shaping of Ukraine's chemical safety landscape.

Content of the technical regulation

The regulations introduced outline the procedures for:

• Government registration of chemical substances before they are placed on the market, requiring companies to assess the intrinsic hazardous properties of substances through testing and to carry out chemical safety assessments (10 tonnes/year and above) using a risk-based approach.

• Data sharing to avoid unnecessary testing by companies in the course of government registration of substances, which should be common only for identical substances.

• In-depth evaluation of chemicals by authorised central executive authorities.

• Provision of safety information by suppliers in the form of safety data sheets (including exposure scenarios where developed) down the supply chain.

• Identification of particularly hazardous substances in line with the EU's Substances of Very High Concern (SVHCs) and Toxic Substances (Acute Toxic and Specific Target Organ Toxicity (STOT)) and compilation of relevant lists.

• Imposing restrictions on the manufacture, placing on the market and use of certain chemical products that pose an uncontrolled risk to human health and/or the environment.

Purpose of the technical regulation

The purpose of the draft Technical Regulation is to implement the framework provisions of the Ukrainian Law on Ensuring Chemical Safety, Security and Management of Chemical Products, which entered into force on 29 December 2022 and will be applicable from 29 June 2024. 

It aims to ensure a high level of protection of human health and the environment, the free movement of chemical products on the internal market, the promotion of the use of alternative methods for assessing the hazards of chemical products and the promotion of innovation while increasing competitiveness, and to define the basic requirements for ensuring chemical safety in the manufacture, placing on the market and use of chemical products by economic operators.

Timeline

The date of adoption of the technical regulation has not yet been set. It will enter into force 3 months after its publication.