European enforcement authorities, in cooperation with customs, are investigating whether companies are fulfilling their import duties under the REACH Regulation.

Inspectors from the Health and Safety Authority are taking part in the project and will cooperate with Custom authorities in carrying out checks on registration and authorisation obligations for chemical products imported from outside the EU in addition to checking for restricted chemicals in articles.

ECHA Enforcement Forum will coordinate this EU-wide enforcement project (REF-12) on imported substances, mixtures and articles that is aligned with the priorities of EU’s Chemicals Strategy for Sustainability.

The project is currently underway. The checks will be carried out during 2024 and the results will be reported in 2025.

The control of imports at the point of entry is the most effective means of checking that non-compliant products do not enter the European market. This project (called REF 12) was triggered by high levels of non-compliance in imported goods detected in previous Enforcement Forum projects, including a recent pilot project which examined nearly 1,400 products in 16 EU Member States and found that over 300 products (23%) were non-compliant with the EU REACH and Classification, Labelling and Packaging (CLP) Regulations.

Read ECHA’s announcement of REF-12 here.