The European Commission launched on 29 October 2003 its proposal for a new chemical legislation concerning the Registration, Evaluation, Authorization and Restriction of Chemicals (REACH).

In 2006 the Nordic Chemicals Group granted funds to the Nordic Product Register Group to start a joint Nordic project on "The Nordic Product Registers and the future REACH substance database. Comparison of the registration systems and options for future developments".

The objective of the project was to clarify the extent of overlap between REACH substance database and the Product Registers and characterize the added value of the Nordic Product Registers.

The REACH substance database and the Product Registers are different systems. These differences are compared and discussed in this report with proposals for use of Product Register information in the implementation of REACH.