REACH Compliance and Auditing

The enforcement of REACH amongst companies is the responsibility of individual Member States.

In the UK, the enforcement regime for REACH has been implemented by the REACH Enforcement Regulations 2008. The authorities given enforcement responsibility by the Regulations are those with existing remits to protect human health, consumer safety, and the environment, namely:

• the Health and Safety Executive (HSE);
• the Health and Safety Executive for Northern Ireland (HSENI);
• the Environment Agency (EA);
• the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA);
• the Northern Ireland Environment Agency (NIEA)
• the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC); and
• Local Authorities (LAs), as regards health and safety and consumer protection (trading standards).

The REACH Enforcement Regulations 2008 provide that it is an offence for a person to contravene a 'listed REACH provision' or to cause or permit another person to do so, and allow for breaches to be tried and penalties applied. It is important to recognise that being unaware of REACH is not a defence for non-compliance, and REACH does not provide for any kind of ‘due diligence’ defence.

IOM’s dedicated REACH team have the expertise required to ensure that you fully comply with your obligations under REACH.