**6.5. The European Union**

In the European Union (EU), REACH, a new legislation which deals with Registration, Evaluation, Authorization, and Restriction of Chemical substances, entered into force on June 1, 2007 [26]. Currently, around 30,000 marketed chemicals, new or existing, required to register under REACH, in which 1500 of the chemicals are subjected to permission before their use and their introducing to the market. Chemicals which require the authorizations are those which are classified as carcinogenic, mutagenic, or toxic to reproduction compounds; persistent, bioaccumulative, and toxic compounds. The authorization will only valid for a limited period of time. Under REACH, industries are responsible for assessing and to manage the risks posed by their chemical substances [26]. Furthermore, for chemicals that are imported or manufactured more than 1 ton per year per company, manufacturers and importers are responsible for gathering information on the properties of their chemical substances to ensure safe handling of such chemicals and to register such information in a central database run by European Chemicals Agency (ECHA). Chemicals that are imported or manufactured more than 10 tons per year per company have no chemical safety report which contains the chemical safety assessment, information on the persistent nature, bioaccumulative, and toxicity behavior of the chemicals and the human health and environmental risk assessment [27]. In addition to the chemical database, the European Community and 23 Member States will implement the publicly accessible database, European Pollutant Release, and Transfer Register (E-PRTR), succeeding the European Pollutant Emission Register (EPER). E-PRTR covers the releases of pollutants to air, water, land, and off-site transfers of waste releases from diffuse sources such as road traffic and- domestic heating. Facilities which emission exceeded the limited set under the regulation are obligated to report to their member states. This report will be published annually [26].
