In three years, all relevant currently known substances of very high concern (SVHC) have to be on the Candidate List of ECHA. The Agency has already addressed all substances for which there is sufficient information on the hazard properties. The focus now is on getting more data on other substances of potential concern, to enable the Agency and the Member States to make a judgement about the hazards and risks they present.
Each year since 2013, ECHA has screened the full REACH/CLP (Classification, Labeling and Packaging Regulation) substance database to identify substances of concern. This resulted in around 900 substances being put forward for further manual screening by the Member States. More than 600 have now been screened. However, identifying substances of potential concern is becoming more and more difficult because of the lack of information on their hazards and on how they are used. Many companies have provided dossiers containing inadequate information.
In total, there are currently 540 substances, where more information is being requested. ECHA and the Member States have started to look more at groups of structurally similar substances to speed up the process of identifying substances of concern by enabling conclusions to be drawn on a larger number of substances at the same time.
- The European Chemicals Agency (ECHA), Helsinki, Finland
Also of Interest
- REACH – An Overview,
ChemViews Mag. 2012.
DOI: 10.1002/chemv.201200029
Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals (REACH) is the European Union chemicals regulation
