Complying with global regulatory lists

The risk management process for substances is complex. Understanding the hazards and risks of chemicals is a key part of responsible product stewardship. It is essential for a sustainable business and for compliance with global chemical regulations. 

The appearance or movement of your substance within global regulatory lists may require you to take actions such as phasing out a certain substance from your product range, altering its concentration, or introducing specific workers' safety procedures. 

NCEC’s horizon scanning tool performs a substance inventory check and identifies whether your substances appear on any 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.

The tool determines what your obligations are and what substances need alteration before further use, allowing you to make strategic decisions sooner. This also means you are less likely to miss any important actions that result in non-compliance, protecting not only your reputation, but also helping you future-proof your product portfolio. 

Why should organisations monitor these lists?

Monitoring the various lists can be time-consuming and problematic. The European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) groups chemicals dangerous to health and the environment, as well as substances of concern, into several lists of varying severity. These lists, created under the Registration, Evaluation and Authorisation of Chemicals (REACH) Regulation, are updated twice every year, often resulting in the movement of substances between lists. Each stage under REACH carries its own regulatory implications and mitigation steps.  With the introduction of generic group entries, it is no longer enough to simply search for numeric chemical identifiers. 

Under the Chemicals Strategy for Sustainability, existing chemical strategies have been updated to provide a greater level of regulation on more substances, which means updates to ECHA lists. 

It is paramount for manufacturers, distributors, suppliers and end users to be aware of and regularly monitor the status of their substances if part of any of these lists. The sooner you are aware of your obligations, the more time you’ll have to implement the appropriate changes. 

What does the horizon scanning tool offer?

The tool is available in bronze, silver and gold packages offering varying levels of support to cater to individual needs. Bespoke reports are also available, where chemical regulations and databases are included to meet your specific needs. The tool can be purchased as a once-off, or you can subscribe to it for 3 or 5 years, so you can receive the status of your substances as soon as the information is made available.  

Bronze package:

The Bronze package is most suitable for those who are concerned only with the five REACH lists, namely:

• Authorisation.
• Candidate.
• CoRAP.
• PACT.
• Restriction.

Silver package:

For those interested in the REACH lists, along with industry or area specific lists such as Nanomaterials and NGO lists, the Silver package will fulfil your needs. Additionally, the Silver package includes EU Registration lists, for example, the Classification & Labelling Inventory and Harmonised Entries (ATP). Now that there is divergence between EU and GB CLP and REACH, this package will also allow you to track their differences.

Gold package:

 The Gold package adds consultancy to the Silver package, providing further advice on your results and, if applicable, an action plan is provided. 

As part of the subscription, reports are issued twice per year in line with ECHA’s release of updated REACH lists, which enables you to act as soon as the information is made available. Our experts regularly monitor these lists and update our in-house database ensuring the reports issued contain the most recent developments.

Download Horizon scanning and compliance report: Sample

Key benefits of using NCEC’s tool

• NCEC regularly monitors these lists updating the tool with all the required information, so you are less likely to miss any important actions that could result in non-compliance. This protects not only your reputation but also guards you against enforcement actions such as shipping delays, which have many detrimental knock-on effects.
• Regular monitoring allows you to act as soon as the information is made available, giving you more time to properly implement actions such as phasing out a certain substance from your product range, altering its concentration, or introducing specific workers' safety procedures. The tool will determine what your obligations are, allowing you to make strategic decisions sooner.
• Our experts can take away your regulatory burden and reduce time, expense and resource investment required to understand the complex requirements and changes for use of substances. 
• Our regulatory experts are members of working groups in ECHA, HSE, BEIS and Defra and have helped shaped the guidance provided by these groups on a variety of legislations. They constantly monitor updates to regulatory legislation and can help you prepare for upcoming changes. They have a comprehensive understanding of all legislation relating to the manufacture, distribution, use, treatment and disposal of chemicals. Our in-depth knowledge of the global supply chain means we are ideally placed to guide our clients through the complicated processes of maintaining regulatory compliance.

If you require any further information regarding the horizon scanner tool, the various subscription packages or want to find out how NCEC can help you maintain regulatory compliance, contact us using the form on the side or email us at [email protected].