France has set criminal sanctions for breaches of the REACH Directive - which affects chemicals used in the electronics industry.
On 25 February the French Secretary of State for Ecology, Chantal Jouanno, agreed REACH enforcement laws which include sanctions that will be applied in France against companies that commit serious offences under the REACH Regulation.
“Such offences, including failure to stop using a banned substance or failure to register a substance, will be deemed criminal,” said compliance agency Environ. The exact sanctions that will be handed down to companies are still to be revealed in the final text, which will be published in the French Official Journal. “Earlier drafts of the law suggested a maximum prison sentence of two years or a maximum fine of €75,000,” said
Environ, enviromental consultants.
“These sanctions appear to be in line with the UK REACH enforcement regulations which took effect from 1 December 2008 and provide for a maximum penalty on conviction on indictment of a fine or imprisonment not exceeding two years, or both. Similar to the French enforcement regulations, the penalties for breaching the substance restrictions in Article 67 of REACH will come into effect from 1 June 2009,” said Environ
REACH enforcement is carried out through Member State regulations and is coordinated across Europe by the ECHA Forum for Exchange for Information on Enforcement. All Member States were required to notify the European Commission by 1 December 2008 on the penalties that they had set through their national regulations. The REACH Regulation requires the enforcement activities to be “effective, proportionate and dissuasive”.
Environ operates a
website that allows parts list to be checked against the REACH and RoHS Directives.