The main objectives of this guidance are to:

　　•Assist the REACH actors in deciding whether or not they are manufacturers or importersof substances (on their own or in preparations) or article suppliers

　　•Assist article suppliers (article producers, article importers and/or distributors/retailers ofarticles, as well as only representatives of non-EU companies exporting articles to the EU)in deciding if they have to fulfil registration, notification and/or communication requirementsrelated to substances in their articles

　　The meeting of the REACH Member State Competent Authorities (REACH-CA meeting) of 19-20December 2007 could not reach consensus on some elements of this guidance on requirements forsubstances in articles and the Commission decided to transfer the finalised text, being endorsed bythe majority of Member State Competent Authorities, to ECHA for publication. The positions weremaintained at the REACH-CA meeting of 27-28 March 2008. Hence ECHA sought the advice of itsManagement Board in its meeting of 23-24 April 2008. At this occasion the majority of the membersof the Management Board supported the publication of the guidance document in its currentstate. However, dissenting views with regard to the application of the 0.1 % threshold were upheldby a significant number of Management Board Members and have been notified to ECHA in writingby 6 Member States (Austria, Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany and Sweden). In line withthe consultation procedure on guidance (MB/30/2007 final dd. 29/02/2008) a reference to the notifieddissenting positions has been added to the relevant parts of the guidance document.This guidance document is part of a series of guidance documents that are aimed to help all stakeholderswith their preparation for fulfilling their obligations under the REACH regulation. Thesedocuments cover detailed guidance for a range of essential REACH processes as well as for somespecific scientific and/or technical methods that industry or authorities need to make use of underREACH.

　　The guidance documents were drafted and discussed within the REACH Implementation Projects(RIPs) led by the European Commission services, involving all stakeholders: Member States, industryand non-governmental organisations. These guidance documents can be obtained via the websiteof the European Chemicals Agency ( Further guidance documentswill be published on this website when they are finalised or updated.

　　This document relates to the REACH Regulation (EC) No 1907/2006 of the European Parliamentand of the Council of 18 December 2006