REACH Only Representative Services

• Relieve importers of their obligations to register and obtain continued market access in the EU (many EU importers will try to avoid registrations by purchasing REACH registered chemicals);
• Avoid dependence on a single importer and keep market access should one EU importer cease trading;
• Gain advantages over other non-EU suppliers who do not appoint OR to register their substances;

Note: Importers will be exempt from REACH registration if their non-EU suppliers have registered; however, importers need to confirm with their suppliers` Only Representative that they are included in the inventory of importers and their tonnage and uses are covered by the OR. This can be done by asking for REACH Certificate of Compliance and Tonnage Coverage Certificate from the only representative of their suppliers before they put chemicals on the EU market.

An Only Representative must be an EU-based legal entity that has a sufficient background in the practical handling of substances and the information related to them required by the REACH regulation Article 8(2). To be more specific, an only representative shall:

• have the ability/expertise to understand and implement the responsibilities of an importer that only representatives take on under the provisions of REACH (pre-registration, registration, authorization, etc);
• be capable of keeping an up-to-date list of EU importers within the same supply chain of the non-EU manufacturer it represents;
• have a record-keeping system with data on imported quantities and all uses covered;
• be capable of keeping the latest information on the supply of safety data sheets;

In accordance with the Article 8 of REACH, the OR takes on the obligations of importers under REACH, in which case importers will be regarded as downstream users (thus do not need to register). Those obligations include:

• Maintain pre-registration data(company identity, annual tonnage, etc ) submitted to ECHA through REACH-IT;
• Represent your company in SIEF/Consortium after pre-registration and keep you informed of the latest progress of SIEF/Consortium;
• Supply Safety Data Sheets or transmit SDS along the supply chain and keep information on the supply of the latest update of the SDS;
• Communicate with EU importers and regulatory authorities and issue necessary documents to ensure REACH compliance;
• Keep an up-to-date list on the inventory of importers and the tonnage covered for each of these importers and keep the above information for at least 10 years and provide it to enforcement authorities upon request;
• Registration, notification and authorization of substances(additional contract needed).

Perhaps your existing REACH only representative(OR) has not communicated SIEF/consortium information to you, has not recorded customers sold to and quantities imported, has not completed adequate supply chain communications, does not have the capability to complete a REACH registration or charges you too much for their Only Representative (OR) service. If so, and if you are unsatisfied with your existing OR or you wish to transfer from your existing OR, it is possible to appoint CIRS as your new OR.

Non-EU companies have a right to change only representative if they are unsatisfied. If the non-EU manufacturer nominates a new only representative the newly appointed only representative can benefit from the pre-registration done by the previous only representative if ECHA is informed about the change. Normally the agreement shall be reached by previous OR, new OR and none-EU company that the previous OR agrees to terminate the Only Representative relationship and transfer all its liabilities and obligations under REACH to new OR. The power of attorney between new OR and none-EU company shall be reached for OR appointment, besides the OR transfer shall be done in REACH-IT.