Guidance on registration - ECHA - Europa

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<strong>Guidance</strong> on registration
Version 2.0 May 2012
Importer: means any natural or legal person established within the EU who is responsible for
import (Article 3(11)).
Import: means the physical introduction into the customs territory of the EU (Article 3(10)).
Placing on the market: means supplying or making available, whether in return for payment or
free of charge, to a third party. Import shall be deemed to be placing on the market (Article 3
(12)).
Only Representative: means a natural or legal person established in the EU and appointed
by a manufacturer, formulator 2 or producer of an article established outside the EU to fulfil the
obligations of importers (Article 8).
Downstream user: means any natural or legal person established within the EU, other than
the manufacturer or the importer, who uses a substance, either on its own or in a mixture, in
the course of his industrial or professional activities (Article 3(13)).
Use: means any processing, formulation, consumption, storage, keeping, treatment, filling into
containers, transfer from one container to another, mixing, production of an article or any
other utilisation (Article 3(24)).
Producer of an article: means any natural or legal person who makes or assembles an
article within the EU (Article 3(4)).
Distributor: means any natural or legal person established within the EU, including a retailer,
who only stores and places on the market a substance, on its own or in a preparation, for third
parties (Article 3(14)).
An important point to bear in mind is that the terms used in REACH to describe the various
roles have very specific definitions and meanings which do not always correspond with how
they might be interpreted in other fora.
Example
A company purchasing registered substances from within the EU and then formulating these
into mixtures (e.g. paints) would be regarded as a downstream user under REACH. In
layman's terms this company might be considered to be a manufacturer of paints. However,
within the context of REACH the company would not be a manufacturer of a substance and so
would have no registration obligations for these substances.
2.1.2 Actors with registration obligations
The only actors with registration obligations are:
EU manufacturers and importers of substances on their own or in mixtures in
quantities of one tonne or more per year.
2
A formulator is a producer of mixtures in the context of the REACH Regulation.
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