SAP, TechniData Release Tool for Obtaining EU Chemical Regulation Compliance

May 27, 2008 // Published as a news service by IHS

The first REACH compliance deadline is preregistration, which runs from June 1, 2008, to Nov. 30, 2008. The remaining three REACH deadlines will occur in 2010, 2013 and 2018.

During the first several years under REACH, the average chemical company is estimated to handle 15,000 compliance projects, each involving substance registration, usage and management, supply chain, financial and legal processes.

REACH places the burden of proving the safety of chemical substances, products and consumer use on the manufacturer and importer.

Chemical, consumer product, mill, oil and gas, pharmaceutical and other process manufacture[r]s will be denied the right to trade noncompliant substances within the EU.

Despite the potential for business disruptions and revenue losses related to noncompliance, a recent PricewaterhouseCoopers survey indicated that many chemical companies are expected to miss the 2008 REACH deadline, the companies said.

"Companies have recognized the importance and the necessity of IT support for REACH," said Jürgen Schwab, CEO, TechniData.

"REACH will be an ongoing task, not only an activity for 2008. Companies that set up the right REACH IT infrastructure today will avoid an ongoing struggle with insufficient tools in the future," he said.

SAP REACH compliance integrates with companies' existing enterprise resource planning (ERP), supply chain management and SAP environment, health and safety applications.

It also supports third-party software for authoring chemical safety assessments, chemical safety reports and standard EU REACH exchange formats.

Functionalities of SAP REACH compliance include:

• Substance and usage management. This feature involves managing data and tracking chemicals used in particular preparations, products and requisite documents, including chemical safety assessments, chemical safety reports and enhanced material safety data sheets.

  The product also includes a function for evaluating current REACH status, tracking quantities of single substances for a single legal entity or monitoring substances on a corporate level covering multiple legal entities, and identifies and rectifies compliance gaps.

• Supply chain collaboration. This includes electronic information exchange of processes involved in REACH-related supply chain communication, supported by material safety data sheets and questionnaire-based communication for use and exposure scenarios.

  Also featured is supplier and customer communication data tracking, including how customers use a product in order to draw up exposure scenarios for substances, and initiating follow-up activities based on deadlines and business-partner responses.

• Legal process management for REACH. Functions organize and monitor authority-related processes, including registration, notification and authorization. Document management can be collaborated between internal and external groups to expedite registration management, keeping business processes transparent, reliable and viewable in real time.

  The product also enables detailed substance and full substance-portfolio management levels to control costs, coordinate activities and register substances and receive authorization with REACH authorities.

"Providing a single integrated solution for all REACH regulatory needs significantly reduces companies' compliance costs and implementation times," said Franz Hero, vice president, Chemicals, SAP AG.

"With global competition and economic pressures increasing exponentially, companies cannot afford to slow down for regulatory business disruptions. SAP REACH compliance enables companies to forge ahead at full throttle, without having to make pit stops to change regulatory tires," Hero said.

Source: SAP AG.