February 6, 2008

Dealing with the devil: Could REACH be better than ROHS?

5 February 2008—It’s not clear what the right metaphor is for choosing between regulation under Restriction on Hazardous Substances (ROHS) or REACH (Registration, Evaluation and Authorization of Chemicals)... Is advocating REACH over ROHS akin to “Dealing with the Devil?” or is it more like “the enemy of your enemy is your best friend?” Or has IPC, in advocating regulation under REACH over ROHS, failed to heed the old adage, “Better the devil you know than the devil you don’t?”

In IPC’s January comments to the European Union (EU) Commission on their review of the ROHS regulation, IPC urged the commission not to expand the scope of ROHS by restricting additional substances. IPC also said that if the Commission deemed additional substance bans to be absolutely necessary, a full life-cycle assessment of the substance and its substitutes should be conducted in order to ensure that the substitution does not have unintended adverse environmental and human health impacts.

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