A new European Union chemicals law – one of the most controversial and ambitious proposals ever to surface in Brussels – is now certain to win final approval, following a breakthrough deal between EU lawmakers and governments.

The draft law, known as Reach -- for registration, evaluation and authorisation of chemicals -- will force companies to register some 30,000 substances with a new EU agency. The companies will have to prove that the chemicals they use and produce pose no threat to human health and the environment – a process that is expected to significantly raise the regulatory burden for industry.