The REACH Regulation, EC 1907/2006 is an important piece of EU legislation, designed to protect workers and consumers from dangerous chemicals. The glass industry welcomes this initiative but considers that many of the glasses it produces are, in effect, inert and should be exempt from registration. Most glasses have no potentially harmful constituents and would automatically meet the requirement for exemption from REACH registration. However, some glasses do contain such elements and a test was needed to determine whether these are "available throughout the life-cycle." The Environment Committee of the International Commission on Glass (TC13) has developed a procedure to determine whether a glass substance should be exempt from registration under the European REACH Regulations, which is explained here.
