European government officials published a partial list of the nearly 40,000 chemicals that have been pre-registered under the European Union's (EU) registration, evaluation and authorization of chemicals (REACH) regulation. According to the agency, the purpose of the list is to give downstream users or companies that purchase chemicals a chance to determine whether substances of interest to them are already pre-registered.
The pre-registration of existing substances began June 1, 2008, and must be completed by December 1, 2008. The complete list of chemicals pre-registered by the December 1 deadline will be published early next year. Substances not registered by December 1 will be illegal in the 27 nations comprising the EU.