The future of many small Irish IT and telecoms companies will be under threat if the Government signs up to new legislation aimed at regulating the use of chemicals in Europe, employers group Ibec said yesterday.
The proposed regulations, known as EU REACH, will require hundreds of thousands of producers, importers and users of chemicals throughout Europe to supply public authorities with information on the potential hazards, volumes and uses of about 30,000 chemicals. The plans are currently making their way through the Dáil and are expected to become law early next year.
"The current draft of the legislation would create a bureaucratic nightmare for companies, which would add to their costs and put jobs at risk," said Marion Byron, assistant director at Ibec. "They are completely unworkable."
Ibec is calling on the Government to ensure that the final legislation doesn't impact the competitiveness of Irish industry. While Ms Byron was unable to put an exact figure on the number of companies that would be affected, a report by Forfás said that if brought in as they now stand, the proposals would cost Irish industry more than €180 million over 11 years.
IT and telecoms companies are expected to feel the greatest impact, it said.
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