Hardback
EU Chemicals Regulation
New Governance, Hybridity and REACH
9781784711306 Edward Elgar Publishing
This book provides an exploratory, explanatory and normative account of REACH, the EU Regulation on the Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals, and its regulator, the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA). There are more than one million words of official ECHA guidance to accompany the 516 pages of REACH. This book sets out a thick, detailed analysis of REACH and ECHA’s guidance and, in so doing, offers up a complex, nuanced and differentiated account of hybrid new governance.
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Critical Acclaim
Contents
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This perceptive book provides an exploratory, explanatory and normative account of the EU Regulation on the Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals (REACH), and its regulator, the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA).
With more than one million words of official ECHA guidance to accompany and underpin the 516 pages of REACH, comprehension of these cooperative regimes is often confounded. Through rigorous analysis of REACH and ECHA’s guidance, this book offers a critical insight into hybrid new governance, the situation whereby hard law is conjoined with soft law. Steven Vaughan uses his practical and academic expertise in environmental law to present an accessible and multidimensional account of the core elements of REACH and its associated guidance. The overarching discussion challenges existing assumptions about new governance to establish a basis for academic commentaries on EU chemicals regulation and hybridity in law and governance.
Acute and discerning, this book will act as a useful reference tool for environmental and public law scholars and students interested in EU chemicals regulation, new governance and hybridity. Legal practitioners and policy makers alike will find value in the acumen into REACH for both advisory remarks and areas of potential reform.
With more than one million words of official ECHA guidance to accompany and underpin the 516 pages of REACH, comprehension of these cooperative regimes is often confounded. Through rigorous analysis of REACH and ECHA’s guidance, this book offers a critical insight into hybrid new governance, the situation whereby hard law is conjoined with soft law. Steven Vaughan uses his practical and academic expertise in environmental law to present an accessible and multidimensional account of the core elements of REACH and its associated guidance. The overarching discussion challenges existing assumptions about new governance to establish a basis for academic commentaries on EU chemicals regulation and hybridity in law and governance.
Acute and discerning, this book will act as a useful reference tool for environmental and public law scholars and students interested in EU chemicals regulation, new governance and hybridity. Legal practitioners and policy makers alike will find value in the acumen into REACH for both advisory remarks and areas of potential reform.
Critical Acclaim
‘Vaughan’s perceptive analysis of EU chemicals regulation vividly portrays new governance as an intricate world of “hybrid” governance. It is a world in which a range of legislative and non-legislative texts and tools encounter one another in normative frameworks that are rather more fluid than fixed. Not only do we learn a great deal about EU chemicals regulation, our understanding of the complex legal character of new governance in the EU is greatly enriched.’
– Kenneth Armstrong, University of Cambridge, UK
‘This fascinating and original monograph examines the EU''s innovative regime for the regulation of chemicals. It will be of great interest to lawyers and political scientists who are interested in chemicals regulation, but also crucially to those who are not. The volume uses chemicals regulation as a case study to shed light upon broader debates in EU law and governance, including the role played by “soft law” instruments in EU law and the pressing accountability issues to which this gives rise.’
– Joanne Scott, University College London, UK
‘Steven Vaughan’s book on the EU’s REACH regime is a splendid case study in new governance. It has been said that “there is nothing more practical than a good theory.” Producing a good, practical theory, however, requires not just strong academic skills, but also practical experience. Vaughan brings both to the task of analyzing how “new governance” plays out in the area of chemical regulation. His insightful analysis demonstrates that much highbrow academic theory on REACH and new governance is inaccurate.’
– Lucas Bergkamp, Partner, Hunton & Williams, Brussels
‘Reading Vaughan’s book was a satisfying and enjoyable experience. Not only does it contain an empirically sound and practical theory, but it also provides a wide-ranging synthesis, drawn from his extensive reading of academic literature on new governance, together with his practical and unparalleled knowledge of how REACH works in practice. I hope that not only the REACH trend catches on, but also that Vaughan’s insights, especially those concerning guidance categorization, will find followers more broadly, and that this insightful book gains the recognition it deserves.’
– Common Market Law Review
– Kenneth Armstrong, University of Cambridge, UK
‘This fascinating and original monograph examines the EU''s innovative regime for the regulation of chemicals. It will be of great interest to lawyers and political scientists who are interested in chemicals regulation, but also crucially to those who are not. The volume uses chemicals regulation as a case study to shed light upon broader debates in EU law and governance, including the role played by “soft law” instruments in EU law and the pressing accountability issues to which this gives rise.’
– Joanne Scott, University College London, UK
‘Steven Vaughan’s book on the EU’s REACH regime is a splendid case study in new governance. It has been said that “there is nothing more practical than a good theory.” Producing a good, practical theory, however, requires not just strong academic skills, but also practical experience. Vaughan brings both to the task of analyzing how “new governance” plays out in the area of chemical regulation. His insightful analysis demonstrates that much highbrow academic theory on REACH and new governance is inaccurate.’
– Lucas Bergkamp, Partner, Hunton & Williams, Brussels
‘Reading Vaughan’s book was a satisfying and enjoyable experience. Not only does it contain an empirically sound and practical theory, but it also provides a wide-ranging synthesis, drawn from his extensive reading of academic literature on new governance, together with his practical and unparalleled knowledge of how REACH works in practice. I hope that not only the REACH trend catches on, but also that Vaughan’s insights, especially those concerning guidance categorization, will find followers more broadly, and that this insightful book gains the recognition it deserves.’
– Common Market Law Review
Contents
Contents: 1: Introduction 2. Chemicals and Chemicals Regulation 3. REACH – An Overview of the Regulation 4. The European Chemicals Agency and ECHA Guidance 5. Information Creation and Substance Information Exchange Fora 6. Registration, Evaluation and the Wider Role of Information Under REACH 7. Substance Bans Under REACH 8. The Enforcement of REACH 9. REACH and Differentiated Soft Norms 10. Final Thoughts Appendix 1: The Road To REACH – Timeline Index
