British Coatings Federation (BCF) chief executive officer Tom Bowtell, Dr Michelle Ledward from Graham & Brown and MP Jack Straw have been to Brussels to argue their case for using certain chemicals.
REACH (Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals) came into force in 2007 and is being implemented in stages, to be completed by 2018.

The delegation pressed the European Commission officials to reconsider whether Authorisation was the most suitable route for several substances.

Jack Straw made the case for keeping the chemical azodicarbonamide (ADCA) off the Authorisation list, given what the BCF believes is the more suitable and equally safe alternative of having an Occupational Exposure Limit.

Commenting on the trip, Mr Bowtell said: "Jack Straw did a fantastic job articulating our position, and we have a renewed confidence that we will find an alternative solution to avoid Authorisation under REACH for ADCA."