ECHA's Warning Message to Chemical Industry

27 Mar 2018

Companies must review quality of chemical data under REACH

According to the recently published European Chemical Agency's (ECHA) annual progress report on Evaluation under Regulation for Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals (REACH) (Regulation EU N° 1907/2006 of 18 December), since its entry into force on 1 June 2007 and up to December 2017, a total of 12,242 companies registered their chemicals, which resulted in a total of 67,005 registrations, covering 17,143 unique substances. Out of these 17,143 substances, 2,495 were manufactured in or imported to the EU in quantities over 1,000 tonnes per year.

The most significant increase in registrations experienced was a result of the 2010 deadline (nearly 18,000), followed by the 2013 deadline.  For the final REACH deadline of 31 May 2018, the expectations for additional registrations are high; however, be forewarned ECHA has launched a warning. The safety information being obtained on chemicals is improving, but further improvements need to be made. Since the initial REACH registration deadline in 2008, ECHA has verified the compliance of 1, 952 registrations and found a vast number of data gaps in the registration dossiers.  This lead to 2,586 further information requests to registrants.

Companies are required to demonstrate the safe use of their substances.  ECHA has made some key recommendations for registrants, including:  to update your dossier with relevant new information; to justify and document your weight-of-evidence approach; and to provide robust grouping and read-across arguments. The quality of the information being offered in registration dossiers is of top priority to avoid unnecessary and timely delays... Registrants are being held accountable! 

Intertek offers a complete single-source solution for the complex REACH registration process. For more information, please visit our website or contact us directly with any questions or comments: info.hers@intertek.com