In legal terms, these are substances that are classified as “very toxic, toxic, harmful, corrosive or Irritant” under the Classification, Labelling and Packaging Regulation (CLP). This was a new regulation that came into force in January 2009 dovetailing with a set of regulations called REACH. REACH is a European Union regulation concerning the Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals, which came into force on 1st June 2007. One of the main aims of REACH is to provide a high level of protection for human health and the environment from the use of chemicals.