Mayer Brown Rowe & Maw

Contact: Mr. Jean Philippe Montfort, Partner

Avenue des Arts 52,
BE-1000 Brussels

Phone: +32 (0)2 551 5961
Fax: +32 (0)2 551 5421
Email: JPMontfort@N0SPAM.mayerbrownrowe.com
Web: http://www.mayerbrownrowe.com/brussels

Mayer, Brown, Rowe & Maw LLP is among the largest law practices in the world, with more than 1,500 lawyers operating in 14 major cities worldwide including London, Frankfurt, Paris, Chicago, New York, Washington D.C. and Hong Kong.

Mayer Brown Rowe & Maw REACH Services
• Company Training on REACH: Our Brussels team organizes company workshops/training on REACH, covering legal, regulatory and scientific aspects and aims at: - raising REACH awareness within the company; - obtaining management support; and - building on or reinforcing REACH capabilities.
• Portfolio Audits: We help companies structure the review of their product portfolio in order to: - identify applicable REACH requirements and data gaps; - identify priorities and address possible weaknesses; and - estimate workload and necessary resources.
• Legal and Regulatory Advice: We use our long-standing experience and knowledge of existing chemical legislation and our scientific, regulatory and legal expertise to help companies navigate through the maze of REACH requirements and exemptions (e.g. natural products, polymers). We also issue legal opinions on the status of specific substances, preparations and articles, and address difficult regulatory issues under REACH.
• Advice on Communications to Suppliers and Customers: We advise companies on communications upstream (to ensure continued supply and the assessment of identified uses of chemicals) and downstream (to respond to customer questionnaires while protecting Confidential Business Information -CBI). We review supply contracts to integrate REACH compliance guarantees. We also help companies prepare external REACH policy communications.
• Strategic Advice on Pre-Registration and Registration Issues: With our leadership of RIP 3.4 on data sharing, we are uniquely placed to advise companies on: - whether to pre-register "phase-in" substances; - the participation in the formation of Substance Identification Exchange Fora (SIEF) depending on their place and role in the supply chain; - company rights and obligations in terms of data and cost sharing; - the possibility of using "only representatives" for foreign companies and "third parties"; - the formation/management of consortia for data sharing and/or registration purposes; and - the joint submission of data, "opt-outs" and other registration-related issues.
• Advice on Consortia Forming and Management: Consortia forming raises regulatory issues (the need to meet the REACH requirements), competition law issues, and issues relating to the protection of CBI. We have a multidisciplinary team in place (with regulatory, antitrust and intellectual property capabilities) to elaborate company policies on REACH consortia, to act as a third party representative for selected consortia, and to provide consortium-related legal advice.
• Product Defense at Authorization: Through the REACH Authorization process, authorities aim to eliminate substances of very high concern. Those wishing to continue to produce or use these chemicals need to develop product defense strategies. We advise companies in setting up their product defense strategy before a chemical is actually singled out for Authorization or Restriction. This involves actively monitoring a range of REACH-related processes, including the selection of "candidate list" substances, but also the classification of these substances under REACH and the Global Harmonized System (GHS). This also involves regulatory advice in filing authorization requests and handling legal remedies if authorization is not granted.
• Legal Rights and Remedies: REACH carries with it complex procedures with important legal and market access consequences. We will help companies building their product defense through all stages of REACH, and act before the Chemical Agency's Board of Appeal and the Courts. MBR&M Brussels office has been awarded a contract by the European Commission to develop guidelines on data sharing/ consortium building and management in the framework REACH (REACH Implementation Projects - RIP 3.4).