The European Commission proposes a change to REACH, the European chemicals regulation. They want to raise the current 5 % minimum target for compliance checks of registration dossiers in each tonnage band to 20 %. This means about 30 % of all registered substances will be checked.
The plan is to screen all substances registered by 2018 in the tonnage band over 100 tonnes per year by 2023. All substances registered by 2018 in the tonnage band 1 to 100 tonnes per year will be screened by 2027. Similar substances will be assessed in groups to gain efficiency and ensure that proposals for further regulatory action are consistent. For high tonnage substances, ECHA will decide by the end of 2020 if they are a priority for risk management, or if they are currently of low priority for further action.
This is part of ECHA and the Commission’s joint action plan to address the lack of compliance in registration dossiers and encourage industry to improve their safety data on chemicals. The data collected in REACH is the basis of the European Union’s chemicals management system. Improving compliance with the law is ECHA’s key priority for the coming years for which the agency will re-allocate staff from other functions.
Other actions include simplifying compliance check decisions, increasing enforcement, interacting with industry associations to make sure registrants step up their compliance efforts, and establishing a transparent monitoring system of the progress made.
- European Chemicals Agency (ECHA), Helsinki, Finland
