Recently, marko.lange/blog announced the SAP Product and REACH Compliance 2.0 became General Available, a software solution developed by two key innovative members of the Industry Value Network (IVN) for Chemicals, SAP and TechniData. To contextualize the challenges that prompted the joint development, here's some background on the the enormous overhaul of European EH&S regulations with relevant links.
In June 2007, the European Union (EU) introduced a legislative framework to cover the registration, evaluation, authorisation, and restriction of chemical substances (otherwise known as REACH) with specific stated objectives to:
- provide further safeguards to protect human health and the environment through earlier identification of the properties of chemical substances
- enhance competitiveness and innovation with the EU chemicals industry
REACH presents a potential bureaucratic and legal quagmire for enterprises already beset by stringent regulation, together with escalating logistics, transportation, and labor costs.
Every company importing or manufacturing more than one metric ton of a chemical substance must define and implement business processes related to the handling of that substance. Companies in areas as diverse as oil and gas, consumer products, pharmaceuticals, plastics, coatings, and even electronics are affected by REACH legislation.
The corresponding directives cover more than 120,000 substances, and consequently affect many different functional areas of a company, including purchasing, product development, manufacturing, materials planning, logistics, quality assurance, and sales.
Europa (EU Official Website) Links
Official EU REACH Forums
European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) Links
BPX Community Links
Roundtable
Industry Links
Updates
I will do my best to keep this REACH information current and relevant by updating the list of links when new information comes on stream in BPX. I've just added a link to SAP Product and REACH Compliance 2.0 became General Available.
