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The recitals in the preamble to the REACH Regulation state inter alia: ‘(1) This Regulation should ensure a high level of protection of human health and the environment as well as the free movement of substances, on their own, in mixtures and in articles, while enhancing competitiveness and innovation. ... (2) The efficient functioning of the internal market for substances can be achieved only if requirements for substances do not differ significantly from Member State to Member State. (3) A high level of human health and environmental protection should be ensured in the approximation of legislation on substances, with the goal of achieving sustainable development. That legislation should be applied in a non-discriminatory manner whether substances are traded on the internal market or internationally in accordance with the Community’s international commitments. ... (12) An important objective of the new system to be established by this Regulation is to encourage and in certain cases to ensure that substances of high concern are eventually replaced by less dangerous substances or technologies where suitable economically and technically viable alternatives are available. ... ... (21) Although the information yielded on substances through evaluation should be used in the first place by manufacturers and importers to manage the risks related to their substances, it may also be used to initiate the authorisation or restrictions procedures under this Regulation or risk management procedures under other Community legislation. Therefore it should be ensured that this information is available to the competent authorities and may be used by them for the purpose of such procedures. ... (29) Since producers and importers of articles should be responsible for their articles, it is appropriate to impose a registration requirement on substances which are intended to be released from articles and have not been registered for that use. In the case of substances of very high concern which are present in articles above tonnage and concentration thresholds, where exposure to the substance cannot be excluded and where the substance has not been registered by any person for this use, the [European Chemicals Agency (ECHA)] should be notified. ... ... (34) Requirements for generation of information on substances should be tiered according to the volumes of manufacture or importation of a substance, because these provide an indication of the potential for exposure of man and the environment to the substances, and should be described in detail. To reduce the possible impact on low volume substances, new toxicological and ecotoxicological information should only be required for priority substances between 1 and 10 tonnes. For other substances in that quantity range there should be incentives to encourage manufacturers and importers to provide this information. ... (56) Part of the responsibility of manufacturers or importers for the management of the risks of substances is the communication of information on these substances to other professionals such as downstream users or distributors. In addition, producers or importers of articles should supply information on the safe use of articles to industrial and professional users, and consumers on request. This important responsibility should also apply throughout the supply chain to enable all actors to meet their responsibility in relation to management of risks arising from the use of substances. ... (58) In order to have a chain of responsibilities, downstream users should be responsible for assessing the risks arising from their uses of substances if those uses are not covered by a safety data sheet received from their suppliers, unless the downstream user concerned takes more protective measures than those recommended by his supplier or unless his supplier was not required to assess those risks or provide him with information on those risks. For the same reason, downstream users should manage the risks arising from their uses of substances. In addition, it is appropriate that any producer or importer of an article containing a substance of very high concern should provide sufficient information to allow safe use of such an article. ... (63) It is also necessary to ensure that generation of information is tailored to real information needs. … In cooperation with Member States, the Agency should give priority to certain substances, for instance those which may be of very high concern. ... (69) To ensure a sufficiently high level of protection for human health, including having regard to relevant human population groups and possibly to certain vulnerable sub-populations, and the environment, substances of very high concern should, in accordance with the precautionary principle, be subject to careful attention. Authorisation should be granted where natural or legal persons applying for an authorisation demonstrate to the granting authority that the risks to human health and the environment arising from the use of the substance are adequately controlled. Otherwise, uses may still be authorised if it can be shown that the socio-economic benefits from the use of the substance outweigh the risks connected with its use and there are no suitable alternative substances or technologies that are economically and technically viable. Taking into account the good functioning of the internal market it is appropriate that the Commission should be the granting authority. (70) Adverse effects on human health and the environment from substances of very high concern should be prevented through the application of appropriate risk management measures to ensure that any risks from the uses of a substance are adequately controlled, and with a view to progressively substituting these substances with a suitable safer substance. Risk management measures should be applied to ensure, when substances are manufactured, placed on the market and used, that exposure to these substances including discharges, emissions and losses, throughout the whole life-cycle is below the threshold level beyond which adverse effects may occur. ... ... (117) EU citizens should have access to information about chemicals to which they may be exposed, in order to allow them to make informed decisions about their use of chemicals. A transparent means of achieving this is to grant them free and easy access to basic data held in the Agency’s database, including brief profiles of hazardous properties, labelling requirements and relevant Community legislation including authorised uses and risk management measures. ... ... (130) Since the objectives of this Regulation, namely laying down rules for substances and establishing a European Chemicals Agency, cannot be sufficiently achieved by the Member States and can therefore be better achieved at Community level, the Community may adopt measures, in accordance with the principle of subsidiarity as set out in Article 5 of the Treaty. In accordance with the principle of proportionality, as set out in that Article, this regulation does not go beyond what is necessary in order to achieve those objectives.’