Dear Supplier to Akzo Nobel,

REACH is the European Union’s new legislation to manage chemicals.  It stands for Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals.  It came into force on 1 June 2007 and, as a Regulation, takes immediate effect in all EU Member States.

All substances manufactured and/or imported in quantities ≥ 1 ton/year, even if supplied in mixtures, will need to be registered under REACH.  All substances meeting the criteria for "phase-in" substances should therefore be pre-registered in order to benefit from the transitional periods provided by Pre-Registration under REACH.  The Pre-Registration period will start 1 June 2008 and will have to be completed before 1 December 2008.

We therefore insist that you, as a supplier of important products to Akzo Nobel, subject all substances included in these products that you manufacture in or import into the EU to the Pre-Registration and Registration under REACH. If you also have to rely on raw material shipments by your suppliers, please ensure that they will be informed accordingly, so they can behave in the same manner.

Please find on the right side an Akzo Nobel brochure which contains further information on REACH.

In light of the Pre-Registration as a first key step, we request that you inform us by email as further specified below - that you will pre-register under REACH all substances manufactured in or imported into the EU by you (even though only supplied in mixtures or preparations) included in the products you supply to our affiliates in any Akzo Nobel Business Units.

If any party up the supply chain is not intending to pre-register we need to know from you, as early warning is critical for our own planning. Any gap may affect our own business as well as the business of our customers. Your earliest response in this regard is therefore essential.

In the next weeks we will contact you via email and send you further information.

Thank you for your cooperation.