A Hybrid within a Hybrid : Contextualizing REACH in the Process of European Integration and Constitutionalization

REACH is a hybrid which from a legal as well as an organizational perspective combines hierarchy and heterarchy. Such hybridity is however not a particular feature of REACH. Rather the EU itself must be understood as a hybrid, thereby making REACH a hybrid operating within a hybrid. The hybrid structure of REACH reflects its societal function which is to simultaneously separate and combine politics, science, economy, health and the environment within a single legal framework. The legitimacy of REACH reflects its hybrid structure in the sense that it is based on a combination of democratic, procedural and deliberative components