Importing from outside the EU: when you become the REACH registrant

Change a single line in your supplier base: the same epoxy resin, bought from Houston instead of Antwerp. Same product, same drum, better price. Your REACH status has just changed. As the customer of a European supplier you were a downstream user, with no registration duty. As an importer, you become the registrant as soon as the substance passes one tonne (1,000 kg) over the year.

The rule sits at Article 5 of Regulation (EC) No 1907/2006, known as REACH: no data, no market. A substance that should have been registered and was not cannot be manufactured in or placed on the EU market.

At one tonne a year, registration is your problem

Title II of REACH (Article 6) requires any substance manufactured or imported at one tonne or more per year to be registered with ECHA, the European Chemicals Agency. The threshold is assessed per legal entity, per substance, and per calendar year. The importer is your EU-established company, not your group: two subsidiaries each importing 800 kg of the same substance each stay under the threshold.

Mixtures do not shield you. Importing 30 tonnes of a preparation containing 5% of a solvent means importing 1.5 tonnes of that solvent, and every substance in the mixture is counted separately against the threshold.

The dossier grows with the tonnage. The data requirements of Annex VII apply from one tonne, then get heavier at 10, 100, and 1,000 tonnes a year (Annexes VIII to X). Before submitting anything, an inquiry to ECHA (Article 26) is mandatory: it tells you whether the substance is already registered and puts you in contact with the existing registrants for a joint submission, where the data is shared, against payment, rather than produced twice.

Good to know: the counter runs per calendar year, not per shipment. A steady flow of 90 kg a month crosses the threshold in December.

The only representative covers you only if you can prove it

A manufacturer established outside the EU may appoint an only representative (Article 8): a natural or legal person established in the Union who carries the registration in its place. If that representative covers your volumes, you are no longer an importer within the meaning of REACH but a downstream user, and the registration duty leaves your desk.

Only a manufacturer of a substance, a formulator of a mixture, or a producer of articles established outside the EU can make that appointment. A trader cannot. If you buy from a Singapore distributor that did not manufacture the product, the "REACH certificate" it hands you may point to a representative appointed by someone with no standing to appoint one, which is to say to nothing.

Verifying coverage takes three questions, in writing:

1. Who is the only representative, and for which non-EU manufacturer? Get the name and address of both, and check that the appointing company actually manufactures the substance or formulates the mixture.
2. Are the substance and your tonnage covered? The representative keeps a list of the importers it covers. Ask for written confirmation that you are on it and that your volumes for the year are accounted for.
3. Keep the proof. In an inspection, demonstrating your downstream-user status is on you. Without the document, you are treated as an unregistered importer.

Good to know: a non-EU manufacturer that appoints an only representative must inform the importers in its supply chain. If that information never reached you, ask for it. It is what changes your status.

An article that releases a substance by design must be registered too

REACH does not stop at drums and bags. Article 7(1) requires registration of a substance contained in imported articles when two conditions are met together: the substance is intended to be released under normal or reasonably foreseeable conditions of use, and the total quantities exceed one tonne a year. The textbook cases are scented products, such as a fragranced eraser, and ink cartridges: the article exists in order to release the substance.

Accidental release or wear is not enough. The release has to be a deliberate function of the article. And no registration is due if the substance has already been registered for that use by someone else in the chain (Article 7(6)).

Next to this narrow case, the more common obligation on articles remains the notification of substances of very high concern (SVHC): above 0.1% by weight in the article and one tonne a year in total, the presence of a Candidate List substance must be notified to ECHA (Article 7(2)). It is a notification, not a registration, but it lands on the same importer: you.

Before signing with a non-EU supplier, ask the three questions in order: will the substance pass one tonne over the year, does a valid only representative cover your volumes, and can you prove it in writing? The time to answer is before the first container, not at the first inspection.

FAQ

Are we the importer if our freight forwarder clears the goods through customs?

Not automatically. Under REACH the importer is the EU-established legal entity responsible for the import, judged on the commercial circumstances: who orders, who pays, and the delivery terms. A customs broker or freight forwarder clearing goods on your behalf does not take on the registration obligation in your place.

Does the one-tonne threshold apply per order or per year?

Per calendar year, per substance, and per legal entity. Quantities are added up across every shipment of the same substance in the year, including the share of that substance contained in imported mixtures.

How do we verify that an only representative actually covers our imports?

Ask the representative for written confirmation naming the non-EU manufacturer that appointed it, the substance concerned, and stating that your company is on its list of covered importers with your annual tonnage accounted for. Keep that document: in an inspection it is what proves you are a downstream user rather than an unregistered importer.

Do we have to register substances contained in the articles we import?

Only when the substance is intended to be released during normal or reasonably foreseeable use and the total quantity exceeds one tonne per year, per Article 7(1) of REACH, and unless it is already registered for that use. Separately, a Candidate List substance present above 0.1% by weight and totaling more than one tonne per year must be notified to ECHA.