EUROFER REACH guidance for the European Steel Industry. 09.09 ...

REACH Guidance for the European Steel Industry
or unless they were identified in accordance with Article 59(1) at least two years previously as
substances giving rise to an equivalent level of concern as set out in Article 57(f).
• Paragraph 10: “the following substances if they are not chemically modified:
liquefied petroleum gas, natural gas condensate, process gases and components thereof,
coke, cement clinker, magnesia.”
Note: While the substances listed in Annex IV and V are exempt from registration,
they may still be subject to authorisation or restriction.
2.3.3 Registration of substances in preparations
REACH Article 6 requires the registration of substances in preparations when manufactured or
imported in quantities greater than 1 tonne per year. [Preparations are defined as mixtures of
substances and alloys are included in this definition]. However, this Article requires further
explanation because, at first sight, it seems to imply that the substances in all alloys must be
registered and this is an incorrect assumption.
If a substance has already been registered and alloying is an identified use of the
substance, then the alloy producer, as a direct downstream user of the substance, is not
obliged to make a registration. This applies specifically to producers of melted alloys and the
use of addition metals as inoculants in smelted alloys. In contrast, however, producers of
smelted alloys (e.g. ferrochromium, ferronickel, etc) are obliged to register the substances
in their alloys. This requirement arises from the fact that the smelting process transforms one or
more minerals or ores into a metallic alloy (i.e. a mixture of metals or mixture of metal and nonmetallic
substances that did not previously exist). Therefore, according to the logic of REACH, the
smelted alloy producer manufactures and places “new” substances on the market and hence
registration of those substances is required.
The registration of the substances in smelted alloys is made still more complex by the REACH
guidance on the identification and naming of substances, where the products of the smelting
process meet the definition of a multi-constituent substance (i.e. they are the products of a
chemical reaction). Thus, there are two registration options. Firstly, in accordance with Article 6,
the individual substances in the smelted alloy may be registered and, secondly, the smelted
product may be registered as a multi-constituent substance (i.e it would be treated as if it were a
single entity, substance, and no longer regarded as an alloy).
Importers of alloys and, indeed, all preparations are, in accordance with REACH Article 6, obliged
to register the individual substances in quantities greater than one tonne per year. Importers of
smelting alloys may also consider the registration of these products as multi-constituent
substances (MCS). However, the MCS registration route has attached to it significant implications
with regard to the costs and the practicality of assessment.
EIMAG (European Industry Metallic Alloys Group) has produced guidance on pre-registration and
registration for manufacturers and importers of alloys that addresses these issues in detail. Users
of this guidance are also recommended to consult the guidance on the identification and naming
of substances provided on the ECHA REACH Navigator website, where the distinction between
preparations and multi-constituent substances are clearly explained. EIMAG has also produced
guidance documents on the assessment of preparations and special preparations (e.g. alloys) as
well as the grouping of special preparations for assessmen.
It has agreed that, as importers of ferroalloys and/or manufacturers of smelted alloys, Eurofer
members will as a general rule register the individual substances in ferroalloys and other smelted
alloys (i.e. treat them as preparations rather multi-constituent substances). We recommend the
non-Eurofer members to do the same. It should be noted that REACH does not permit the
registration of preparations.
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