Group aims to establish OR standards and help common interpretation of guidelines
17-Oct-2008
A group of nine Only Representative (OR) service providers have joined together to officially launch a professional industry association—the Only Representative Organisation (ORO). The association aims to set standards and provide a voice for
the emerging sector as REACH is interpreted and implemented. It will hold its first general assembly on 9 December.
It has already begun to develop OR quality standards. Companies wanting to join ORO will have to meet a set of minimum requirements and basic standards. Chemservice managing director, Dieter Drohmann, who has been appointed interim
chairman of the association, says the quality standards will go beyond Article 8 of REACH, which describes what capabilities an OR should possess to represent a non-EU manufacturer. “We are looking for companies that are sustainable in the long
term. They need to have a clear plan. And they need to have established fair contracts that allow their customers to change OR, for example. We would also expect them to have insurance cover,” he adds.
As well as setting up quality standards, ORO will develop a common understanding of REACH requirements for ORs. Dr Drohmann notes that there have been manymisunderstandings and misinterpretations of REACH Article 8 in the past. These are reflected by the two recent corrections of the registration guidance for ORs, he adds.
He says that the role of an OR is extremely important because its actions for each substance of a client could impact all stakeholders in the supply chain, the Substance Information Exchange Fora, and EU and national authorities. Taking the tight
timeframe of REACH into account, he says many non-EU companies and their EU customers are concerned that there is no central access point that can give high quality information on OR issues. ORO aims to provide this missing link in the
future, he notes.
Additionally, the association plans to develop tools to help non-EU manufacturers select the right OR and represent the interests of ORs and non-community manufacturers.
The association will be set up as a non-profit organisation. Membership fees will be worked out before the meeting in December, when the association’s officials will be appointed. ORO invites other OR companies to join as full members and participate in the general assembly. Dr Drohmann notes that ECHA has indicated some 350 ORs have signed on to the agency’s REACH-IT system. He hopes the association will attract a significant number of members.
The following companies have already agreed to join ORO as full members:
BMT Cordah (UK), Chemservice (Germany/Luxembourg), Dr Knoell Consult (Germany), ExperChem (Germany), Likedeelers (Germany), LTS-REACH OR (France), ReachOnly Representative (UK), REACH Representative (Belgium), SWIT Deutschland
(Germany).
ORO would establish quality standards, represent ORs in policy discussions
16-Jul-2008
Three EU consultancies are inviting others to take part in an initiative aimed at meeting the demand from non-EU firms for help in finding reputable ‘only representative’ (OR) service providers to undertake their REACH registration needs.
Chemservice, Dynasource and Likedeelers are proposing to set up the Only Representative Organisation (ORO). The project is still at a very early stage – it has yet to be established as a legal entity - but the parties hope to take a step forward with the
launch of a website over the summer.
According to Dieter Drohmann, managing director of Chemservice, which is acting as OR for more than 200 substances, experience in the interpretation of OR responsibilities within the REACH guidance shows that an OR voice is urgently needed in the REACH implementation process.
ORO’s main objectives are to:
Set up OR quality standards;
Develop a common understanding of REACH requirements for ORs;
Represent the interests of ORs and non-EU manufacturers;
Cooperate with regulators and other stakeholder in the REACH process.
A number of non-EU manufacturers have raised concerns about the OR process in recent months (CW European Business Briefing June 2008). While the Regulation specifies what capabilities an OR must possess, there is no mechanism to help companies exporting products to the EU to select reputable service providers.
“We are looking forward that as many as possible serious and interested ORs join to set up a powerful organisation representing the interest of our industry segment,” says Dr Drohmann. He says he is contacting a number of other ORs to find out if there is interest in joining the ORO project and several have shown interest.
Any OR that wants to join the initiative or other interested stakeholders are invited to contact the following:
Thierry Cascale (
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Dieter Drohmann (
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Marc Kiener (
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