A practical way?

A further example showing that lawmakers really do not understand global supply chains presents itself to us in the form of a huge piece of legislation known as REACH. I am sure most readers will be aware of the name, but perhaps not the problem it is creating for anyone who wishes to put consumer products on the EU market. REACH, quite sensibly, makes it very difficult for dangerous chemical substances to find their way into consumer goods. I don’t suppose anyone would seriously oppose that aim. But if you don’t implement laws in a practical way they become worthless. This is happening right now with REACH. Without going into too much detail, REACH states that any dangerous substance found in a consumer good cannot be present at more than 0.1 per cent concentration. That is achievable. Expensive, but achievable. However, the French government has decided that this concentration should apply to each component of a product. So to each key of a keyboard, each wire in a car. The cost implications are so horrendous that some industries (and I will whisper this) are not even planning on implementing it. Now I wouldn’t advise my members to go down that route, retailers live and die by their reputations, but you have to wonder if it’s really worth it. The trouble is, France is being followed by Germany, Austria, Sweden, Denmark and Belgium. Norway, not a member of the EU, is doing the same. If I was one of those countries, I would probably want to make sure that my competitors – sorry I meant European “partners” – were doing the same. So guess what, the European Commission is suggesting it will consider a review of this question in 2012. And that will make life very interesting for us lobbyists. Download: