On Jan. 25, some 29 countries from the European Economic Area sent 70 participants to ECHA  headquarters in Helsinki to strengthen the national harmonized enforcement of CLP, reports Chris Nowak of Actio, makers of chemical management software.

“The idea is,” Nowak explained, “that if ECHA takes the time to create skilled trainers, they will cascade their knowledge through training events in their own countries.

“We’ll see how it goes.  Both the enforcement of and penalties for REACH are somewhat episodic so far. Certainly well-trained inspectors are the cornerstone for the effective enforcement of CLP and REACH; but consistent legislative parameters would be helpful, too.  Surely we’ll be discussing this in some detail in Houston next month,” Nowak said.

CLP stands for the EU Classification, Labeling and Packaging Regulation.

Look forward to seeing how the “trickle down” enforcement works out for ECHA.  Enforcement has been a tricky aspect as the Agency charges forth in its admirable efforts to manage chemicals in the marketplace.

“We’ll see how it goes…”

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