A new CEPS Policy Brief by Ineke Gubbels-van Hal (Royal Haskoning NL) and CEPS Senior Fellow Jacques Pelkmans finds that the current ‘silence’ over the EU chemicals regulation REACH is misleading and is, in fact, more the calm before the storm. Their analysis of the Regulation’s main properties and ensuing obligations reveals that its implementation suffers from considerable problems. The authors suggest that help desks, IT tools and guidance documents – useful as they are – will not suffice.