ECOonline launches in Finland; strengthens Nordic service

ECOonline Oy today officially launched its operations in Finland. The parent company, ECOonline AS is Northern Europe's first company to offer an entirely Internet-based solution for the management of chemical information.

Chemical information management is becoming increasingly demanding due to the constantly tightening of the European Union regulations. Most important of these are REACH, the regulation concerning the registration, evaluation, authorization and restriction of chemicals and CLP, the regulation on classification, labeling and packaging of chemicals.

"REACH and the CLP together account for an over two-thousand-page-wide complex legislative package. However, even one man garages are required to maintain documentation of the chemicals used, their uses and the associated risks. It would be interesting to know how many companies are not even aware of their obligations," says Eilamo.

According to Eilamo, the regulations cover a very large number of Finnish companies in several industries. These companies are producing, distributing or using chemicals in their own activities. Companies are required to maintain a list of the chemicals they use and to ensure up to date records of the safety data sheets and risk assessments. In addition, more and more users of chemicals will have to maintain information of exposure scenarios too.

"It is beneficial to all that the chemical information management is made as as easy as possible for companies. A growing amount of documentation as well as changes in regulations creates challenges. For larger companies, a key problem is the vast amount of documentation required and in many cases, also for the various different languages. To smaller businesses, the challenge is finding an efficient and easy to use document management system. Complying with chemicals legislation requires a lot of repetitive routine work, documentation, communication within the supply chain as well as archiving. This work can be significantly streamlined with the use of appropriate tools," says Eilamo.

“It is a pleasure to be present in Finland, a land of fantastic talent and industry, and home to the European Chemicals Agency. This is a natural step for us, as we recognize Finnish industry as responsible and compliant, and of course leading in Internet connectivity and use of new technology, all relevant factors when deciding to start ECOonline here,” says Luis Paulsen, chairman of ECOonline Oy.

“Many supply chains cross borders, and to chemical products this is no exception. This of course applies to the relevant chemical documentation as well, and that is why we are strengthening the offering to enterprises in the Nordic region, who often operate in several Nordic countries and supply chains,” Paulsen says.

“That is not to say we are ignoring other European markets, as our customers also operate in most other European countries,” Paulsen concludes.

ECOonline eases the work and processes associated with chemical information management. ECOonline solutions help companies manage their chemical records, safety data sheets, risk assessments and exposure scenarios and enables the flow of information between the different actors in the supply chain. ECOonline Oy started its operations in Finland as a separate company in the spring of 2011. The parent company ECOonline AS is Northern Europe's first company to offer Internet-based solution for chemical information management. ECOonline has more than 3,000 customers in the Nordic countries.

Kari Eilamo is Country Manager at ECOonline Oy. He is responsible for business development and the relations with the main members of the industry. Eilamo joined the company from the position of Sales and Marketing Director of Estime Oy. He has worked previously in management positions in Markkinointiviestintä Dialogi Oy, Image Funk Oy, Canon Oy, Novo Group Oyj, and Oy IBM Ab.

Tanja Virtanen-Leppä is product manager at ECOonline Oy. She is responsible for technical development, customer support and training. Her previous position was development manager for Atria Oyj. Virtanen-Leppä has previously worked with the conformity and packaging development at Atria and Valio.

Petteri Joutseno is Account Manager at ECOonline. He is responsible for the company's sales and customer care. Joutseno comes to ECOonline from the position of Sales Director of Axiom. Previously he has worked in various sales and marketing positions in Elega, Oberthur Technologies and The Nielsen Company .

Luis Paulsen is chairman of ECOonline Oy.

Espoo/Tønsberg, September 13th 2011