We ensure that all our products, if used correctly, pose no risk to health or the environment. We continually update our product information and constantly revise our risk assessments totake account of new findings.

Only some 40 percent of WACKER products require safety data sheets by law. We compile these sheets for all chemical and biochemical sales products and issue over 54,000 data sheets in up to 33 languages.

REACH (Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals) legislation, which came into force in 2007, governs the registration, evaluation, authorization and restriction of chemicals within the European Union (EU). REACH ascertains comprehensive data, and imposes new requirements on manufacturers, importers and users of chemical products. On the European market, all substances used or imported in annual quantities exceeding one metric ton must be registered and evaluated. The scope of evaluation work is largely determined by the quantity of material produced or imported and the expected risks. Particularly high-risk substances are subject to regulatory approval.

We have been preparing for REACH requirements since the EU Commission issued its white paper on chemicals policy in 2001. Our first step on the long journey toward REACH registration was to preregister phase-in substances produced in annual quantities exceeding one metric ton. This step chiefly included substances listed in the European Inventory of Existing Commercial Chemical Substances (EINECS). We preregistered over 7,000 substances with the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA).

WACKER submitted its first registration dossier to the ECHA in 2009. In the following year, we successfully completed the first phase of substance registration in accordance with REACH requirements. The ECHA confirmed receipt of 85 dossiers and issued registration numbers for all the substances. WACKER is now entitled to produce these substances within the European Union without restriction and to supply them to EU member states.

By June 2013, we will have submitted 66 registration dossiers to the ECHA on substances manufactured in quantities of between 100 and 1,000 metric tons annually. We are currently preparing a further 190 substance dossiers for the third stage of REACH, which runs until 2018. We will continue to implement REACH legislation even beyond that date.

Our researchers and developers focus on finding solutions to customer needs and responding to global concerns, such as rising energy consumption, depletion of raw materials, urbanization, digitization and demographic change.

WACKER scientists are currently working on around 220 research themes based on 40 technology platforms – frequently in collaboration with customers, universities and scientific bodies. WACKER takes environmental, health and safety criteria into account at every stage of the product life cycle (raw materials, production, logistics and applications).