Whatever you do in life, it can be done well. The real challenge is to maintain the pace.

We have set a strong pace for ourselves with our 2015 Sustainability Goals. We set them to help us focus on strengthening our relationships, continuing to improve our product stewardship and reducing our global footprint. Meeting the goal of Product Safety Commitment is moving us forward, and a key element in meeting that commitment is compliance with REACH.

But we need more than words to reach our goals. We need action, and we are taking it.

Taking Action - Making Progress

REACH was developed in a climate of transparency and consultation. Prior to its adoption, Dow established its own position and advocated through the European Chemical Industry Council (Cefic) to make REACH a workable regulation for customers and other industry stakeholders.

We intend to pre-register all of the eligible substances we manufacture inside the EU as well as those manufactured outside the EU and imported by Dow into the EU. To meet requirements to register its substances, Dow will close gaps in hazard and exposure information. All of this will be completed within the required timeline set out in the REACH regulation.

We anticipate the majority of substances in our current portfolio will be registered for a range of typical downstream uses. We also expect that only a small number of the substances we manufacture will be subject to the authorization process for ‘substances of very high concern’ under REACH. However, we expect to be able to demonstrate proper levels of risk management for supported uses of these substances.

REACH is just the next step in our already long and successful passage to product safety. We are doing our very best when it comes to REACH, and we aim to maintain the pace.