The automotive industry is committed to the objectives of REACH, which are to protect human health and the environment while guaranteeing the free movement of substances within the internal market, improving the competitiveness of the industry and fostering innovation. The industry has a responsibility to its customers to support the longevity of their current vehicles by ensuring that these products can be serviced, repaired and maintained in such a manner as to not be detrimental to their function, safety and reliability. The supply of spare parts is also regulated at a national level, e.g. in Germany, where a minimum 10 year availability obligation must be fulfilled. For this and other reasons, it is not uncommon for OEMs and suppliers to provide spare parts for vehicles that have been out of production for more than 20 years. The technical performance of spare parts may be linked to their chemical composition, and to guarantee the technical performance of the individual parts and interaction with other components an adverse chemical reaction should be avoided. The geometry of the spare parts needs to be identical to the original part in order for the components to physically fit into the required space.
