Upon the approval of the legislation on use of man-made chemicals in EU, China urges domestic chemical exporters to be well prepared for the new law.

The Registration, Evaluation, Authorization and Restriction of Chemicals (REACH), which will be put into effect in June 2007, requires exporting enterprises to submit technical files and security evaluation report of chemical goods.

Most Chinese chemical enterprises have not made any preparations for REACH so far, said Zhang Xiangchen, director of the WTO Affairs Department of the Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM).

According to statistics, bilateral trade volume between EU and China reached US$217.31 billion in 2005 with US$16.758 billion of chemicals trade.

From January to October this year, chemical trade between China and EU reached US$16 billion and the figure for the whole year is expected to be US$19 billion.

Zhang said data collection and registration, evaluation and authorization according to the REACH will be significant for China-made chemicals to be accessible to the EU market.

All of those procedures will raise the cost and have some effects on the operation of enterprises, he said.

Zhang urged Chinese enterprises to make preparations as soon as possible and raise their risk controlling ability.

The MOFCOM will cooperate with domestic industrial associations to give consultation and training services for domestic enterprises, said Zhang.

(Xinhua News Agency December 20, 2006)