In February experts from the Fit for REACH consortium participated in a seminar in Belgrade, Serbia to disseminate experience from LIFE Fit for REACH, to train local industries and consultants and to share the experience and messages for local NGOs on how to deal with chemical issues when working with companies.
The seminar was organised by ALChem, an NGO in Serbia dealing with different chemicals projects and introducing the REACH requirements and good chemicals management principles to local actors such as Serbian Chamber of Commerce, industries, consultancy companies and other NGOs in Balkan.
The seminar consisted of 2 days, the representatives from industry participated at the 1st day and the representatives from different NGOs at the 2nd day. Presentations by FFR representatives focused on the requirements of REACH, SVHC, ECHA databases, safety data sheets and substitution of hazardous substances. BEF representatives also gave examples and experience from their work to implement REACH requirements in Baltic enterprises for representatives of different NGOs in Balkan. Also the work with different target groups was reflected, like consumers, municipalities, politicians etc. How to reach the target group, what could be the main messages when talking about hazardous chemicals and what are the lessons learned by BEF.
The event included representatives from Serbian Chamber of Commerce, representatives from 8 companies (rubber industry, production of kitchen utensils, chemical industry, fashion industry and garment production like textile and leather), representatives from consultancy companies (consulting industries), representatives from different NGOs in Balkan - from Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Croatia.
The feedback from the training was positive - participants liked the training topics and found the tools on FFR project web-page useful, especially the excel table template for keeping inventory and SDS quality checking tool.