European Chemicals Agency prepares itself for a rush hour
ECHA European Chemicals Agency is one of the largest separate agencies within the EU – and at the same time a welcome boost for Helsinki’s internationalization process.European Chemicals Agency ECHA expects to have about 9000 chemical substances registered by the beginning of December. What makes the registration process so exciting is to see how many companies register the same substances and what is the total number of registrations the agency finally receives.
—Despite the long process of preparation we are still uncertain of the number of notifications that will arrive. We are expecting approximately 25 000 notifications, but the amount might equally well be triple, says Director Jukka Malm from ECHA.
The more notifications, the bigger task the agency is facing.
— We try to reduce uncertainty by several means, and preparing ourselves carefully for different kinds of scenarios. The number of notifications will affect our operations for several years to come.
Malm knows how to manage the challenge.
— We have prepared ourselves seriously for taking care of the different tasks of ECHA and we have no other choice than to survive. It is exactly because of these challenges and tasks that ECHA has been established.
The European Chemicals Capital
The Chemicals Agency handles issues dealing with the different processes of registration, evaluation, licensing procedures and restrictions in the European Union. The purpose of the REACH-directive is for instance to ensure the safe usage of chemicals and to strengthen the competitiveness of the industry.
ECHA, which was opened in the beginning of 2007 in Helsinki, is a concrete and politically significant outcome of the new EU chemicals directive. As the directive has become more known, Helsinki has begun to grow into its role as the European Chemicals Capital.
ECHA is an international workplace with experts from nearly all the 27 EU member countries. At the moment there are nearly 400 employees, and the number is expected to go up to 550. Malm says that recruiting people has not been a problem.
— It is important that the personnel represents as many EU member countries, and European languages, as possible. We have received a good number of applicants, and now host a group of highly competent experts. ECHA is a challenging and interesting workplace for experts in the field. The only people we have to compete for are toxicologists, since they are in high demand.
Helsinki’s attraction will be boosted in the future when the new tasks assigned for the European Chemicals Agency are effectuated.
— The approval system dealing with different biosides will be centralized to the Chemicals Agency from 2013 onwards. This will invite a further 40 employees under our roof, says Malm.
http://echa.europa.eu
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