Acronym · Standards & Organisations
REACH (Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals)
The European Union chemicals regulation requiring registration of substances and disclosure of Substances of Very High Concern present above threshold concentrations in articles.
Semiconductor suppliers must track and declare SVHC content through the supply chain.
- Also known as
- EC 1907/2006
- Type
- Acronym
- Domain
- Standards & Organisations, Compliance & regulation
- Also relevant to
- Policy, Trade & Geopolitics
Notes
The SVHC candidate list grows twice a year, so declarations must be refreshed rather than issued once.
Overview
REACH (Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals) is the European Union regulation that governs how chemical substances are made, imported and used in the EU, placing the duty to understand and manage their risks on industry. It covers substances on their own, in mixtures and in finished articles such as chips, boards and equipment. For semiconductor suppliers its most visible effect is the obligation to track and declare substances of very high concern in what they sell.
How it works
REACH is Regulation (EC) No 1907/2006 and has applied since 2007, with the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) at the centre of the system. Manufacturers and importers of a substance at one tonne or more per year must register it with ECHA, showing how it can be used safely and passing risk management measures down the supply chain through safety data sheets. Unregistered substances may not be placed on the market. ECHA and member states then evaluate the submitted information.
Substances with the most serious hazards can be identified as substances of very high concern (SVHCs) and added to the Candidate List. Some are later moved to the Authorisation List (Annex XIV), after which they may be used only under a granted authorisation; others are restricted or banned outright.
For articles, the Candidate List is what matters. As soon as a substance is listed, suppliers of articles containing it above the threshold must give customers enough information to use the article safely, naming the substance at least. Producers and importers must also notify ECHA when a listed substance is present above 0.1 per cent by weight and in total above one tonne per year, within six months of the listing. Because ECHA keeps adding substances, a part that was clean last year can carry a new declaration duty today.
Examples
- A chip supplier issuing a REACH declaration stating that a packaged part contains no Candidate List substance above 0.1 per cent by weight.
- A compliance team rechecking full material declarations after ECHA adds new substances to the Candidate List.
- An importer of assembled boards notifying ECHA because a listed substance in one component exceeds the notification thresholds.
- A fab assessing whether a process chemical it uses faces authorisation or restriction under REACH.
Why it matters
Customers in Europe expect suppliers to state whether their parts contain Candidate List substances, so chip makers, distributors and contract manufacturers maintain material declarations for every product. Product environmental compliance managers and materials engineers own this work, and a missing declaration can hold up a customer's own compliance or shipments.
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Last reviewed . Written by The Semiconductor Hub editorial team. The full glossary