BANNOCKBURN, IL – More than 40% of manufacturing and purchasing personnel have no understanding of the REACH regulation as it affects their companies, according to a recent IPC survey. The same holds true for nearly one-third of senior management, 29% of engineering personnel, and 28% of environment, health and safety personnel, says the association.
 
The survey, sent to executives in North America and Europe, reveals that even with a deadline for pre-registration of substances quickly approaching, only 18.3% of companies have identified and/or inventoried all substances in their products. In addition, only 60.5% of chemical supplier respondents are planning to register or pre-register substances at all.
 
The EU legislation concerning the Registration, Evaluation, Authorization and Restriction of Chemicals took effect June 1, 2007. REACH covers substances in nearly all applications, totaling about 30,000 unique chemicals. The legislation makes bidirectional communication throughout the supply chain imperative.
 
IPC has scheduled a Sept. 18 Webcast on pre-registration issues for PCB and EMS suppliers.