The agency is coping well with a last-minute flood of applications -- despite attacks by computer hackers.
The phones have been ringing off the hook at this building on Annankatu in central Helsinki, home to the new European Chemicals Agency, the largest international body ever based in Finland.
December 1 is the deadline for companies to pre-register under the EU's REACH legislation -- or 'Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals'.
The agency does not carry out laboratory tests itself. Instead, companies are required to have all their chemicals tested for safety. The agency's massive job is to check that this is done properly.
"Companies that do not act in time have enormous disadvantages that they can no longer market these chemicals until they have registered. That means they will have to suspend marketing these products," says Geert Dancet, Executive Director of ECHA.
Predictions Exceeded Tenfold
The fledgling agency now faces its first real test, as it has received 10 times more pre-registrations than expected. So far, more than two million applications have arrived.
"It proves that companies are getting really aware of the necessity to respect the law," says Dancet. "So they have woken up extremely late, and we suspect that particularly companies based outside Europe have absolutely panicked at a late moment in time."
The agency's computer system faced a further challenge as it had to fend off an attack by computer hackers. On Monday an auxiliary data system kicks in to help Finland's first EU agency tackle an unprecedented workload.
