The European Chemicals Agency (ECA) has moved to alleviate fears that problems with its IT systems could leave companies unable to pre-register the chemicals they use ahead of an EU-wide deadline of 1 December, effectively resulting in them being unable to legally import or manufacture certain chemicals. Under the Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals (REACH) directive all firms manufacturing or importing over a tonne of chemical substances are required to register with the ECA as part of a Europe-wide audit designed to provide the groundwork for the future phasing out of hazardous substances.

The directive is expected to cover a huge number of companies and include industries ranging from chemicals manufacturers to hairdressers. Those that fail to pre-register the chemicals they use will have to suspend manufacture or import of the chemicals until they have completed the more lengthy full registration process, potentially leading to significant disruption to their business.

However, many of the firms attempting to pre-register their chemicals on the ECA's REACH-IT website in recent weeks have found that the site has crashed or been running so slowly they have only been able to pre-register a limited number of chemicals each day.

Peter Snaith, a partner at law firm Dickinson Dees LLP which has been working with clients on how to comply with REACH, said many firms were now concerned that they would not be able to pre-register all the chemicals they use ahead of the deadline.

'One client thought they had left themselves plenty of time to comply, but found that when they came to register the site was crashing on them all the time,' he said, adding that anecdotal evidence suggested the problem was widespread.

'It is surprising, because initially people were advised to wait and see how the system coped and not pre-register too early,' he said. 'But now lots of people are registering and it is putting the system under pressure.'