IBM and Cefic Develop State-of-the-Art Solution for Chemical Industry

ReachLink to Help Companies With the SIEF Management.

BRUSSELS, BELGIUM - Cefic, representing the European Chemical Industry, and IBM (NYSE: IBM) developed a state-of-the-art solution which will facilitate and ease the exchange of information between companies with the goal of submitting registration dossiers required by the REACH Regulation. The solution, SIEFreach, is a reliable and performing collaboration tool incorporating IBM software, hardware and services. The system went live on August 21, 2008.

Under REACH, around 30,000 substances have to be registered by 2018 to ECHA, the European Chemicals Agency. All companies importing or manufacturing chemical substances with quantities above one ton have to submit registration dossiers.

Cefic offers via the SIEFreach platform the possibility for companies to exchange information in a user-friendly manner. Through the Substance Information Exchange Forum (SIEF) companies will be able to exchange tests and other data on identical chemical substances, which means that these companies will gain time and cut costs by enhancing their communication through a structured channel. Another important outcome will be that animal testing can be minimized.

In the context of the REACH project, Cefic created a new company called ReachLink, who is the owner of the platform, together with the German, French, Italian, UK and Spanish national chemical federations. In cooperation with IBM, ReachLink will put a European SIEF management IT system at the disposal of all European chemical and related companies impacted by REACH, as from August 21, 2008. SIEFreach, as the system is called, is an industry-wide shared IT platform.

The SIEFreach solution, consisting of the SIEFreach application and portal, is designed, developed and maintained by a global IBM team. The IT platform is based on IBM WebSphere and Lotus collaboration software and is hosted by IBM. In addition to hosting, IBM will also provide the application helpdesk for the end user.

Alain Perroy, Director-General of Cefic, explains why they chose to partner with IBM, “IBM provided us with a one-stop-shop for services, software and hardware. Their state-of-the-art technology and proven track record led to a highly flexible and scalable collaboration solution fit to the specific needs of the chemical industry.”

Isabelle Verleye, IBM Global Business Services, Business Development Executive, confirms the IBM commitment to ReachLink, “Our global team is dedicated to make this solution a success for ReachLink and the chemical industry now and in the coming years. We have used our extensive resources to enable efficient collaboration and successful registration for the chemical industry.”

The agreement was signed on February 25, 2008.