ECHA encourages SME registrants to verify their company size

News Alert
ECHA/NA/10/42
Media enquiries: ECHA Press

Companies and Only Representatives (OR) are encouraged to re-examine the company size they have declared in REACH-IT at the submission of their dossiers.

Helsinki, 29 July 2010 - In line with the REACH Fee Regulation, ECHA is checking the cases of companies identifying themselves as micro, small- or medium-sized. Companies may be asked by ECHA to prove their SME status and if they fail to do so, they will be charged the full REACH fee or the fee applicable to their revised size.

ECHA will start collecting an administrative charge for any incorrect SME registration in the coming months. To this effect, the Agency has submitted a draft Management Board (MB) decision for the approval of the European Commission. The exact level of the administrative charge will be determined accordingly.

On the ECHA website there is a new page dedicated to SMEs. It provides an online tool which enables companies to check whether they comply with the EU definition of an SME together with clear guidelines to follow in case they need to revise their SME status.