European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) have been able to make considerable progress in accelerating the pace of identification of substances of concern. In 2021, more than 1900 substances were assessed, which is an increase of 30% from 2020.
25% of the assessed substances require further risk management, which includes the substances being subject to restrictions. Those needing restriction have been included in the European Commission’s Restrictions Roadmap, directly contributing to the aims of the EU’s Chemicals Strategy for Sustainability (CSS).
NCEC have been keeping a close eye on the impact of CSS on the chemical industry. Based on our knowledge and understanding of CSS, we recently launched the horizon scanning and compliance reporting tool. The tool performs a substance inventory check and identifies whether your substances appear on the Registration, Evaluation and Authorisation of Chemicals (REACH) restriction list along with other global regulatory lists. It provides the results in a clear, easy-to-read report, where you can quickly determine the most recent status of your substances. Our experts regularly monitor these lists and update our in-house database ensuring the reports issued contain the most recent developments.
This report will help determine your obligations, such as phasing out a certain substance from your product range, altering its concentration, or introducing specific workers' safety procedures; enabling you to make strategic decisions sooner reducing time, expense and resource investment required to understand the complex regulatory requirements and guarding you against enforcement actions. You can find out more about the tool on our dedicated horizon scanning webpage.
ECHA have also recommended that companies should proactively review and update the data in their REACH dossiers, as the information provided in dossiers forms the basis for assessment. Businesses need to review their dossiers against the recent updates made by the European commission to the EU REACH annexes clarifying the information they need to submit for REACH registrations. These changes will take effect from October 2022. You can read more about these changes on our website here. NCEC’s regulatory team can review your dossier to fill data gaps, strengthen justifications for adaptations and help to establish if all appropriate information has been gathered to reduce the likelihood of ECHA requesting further information.
If you want to find out how NCEC can help you maintain regulatory compliance or require any further information regarding the horizon scanner tool or our dossier service, contact us using the form on the side or email us at [email protected].