Chemical compliance… what’s happening?

What’s happening with regard to chemical regulations internationally? Here are some updates we’ve prepared for you for September 2021.

ECHA puts eight more substances on candidate list

The European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) has classified eight further substances as being of very high concern and included them in the candidate list of substances for eventual inclusion in the Authorisation process.

In the future, these substances may be placed on the Authorisation list, which means that companies would need to apply for permission to continue to use them. Companies are required to follow their legal obligation to ensure safe use of these chemicals. They may also have to notify ECHA under the Waste Framework Directive if their products/articles contain substances of very high concern. This notification is submitted to ECHA’s SCIP database and the information published on the Agency’s website.

The substances pose a risk to human health because they are toxic for reproduction, carcinogenic, respiratory sensitisers or endocrine disruptors. Importers and producers of articles containing a candidate list substance have six months to notify ECHA.

The newly included substances are used in consumer products such as cosmetics, perfumes, rubber and textiles, and also in solvents, flame retardants and plastic products.

An overview of the newly included substances can be found here.

European Commission clarifies information requirements in REACH

The European Commission has adopted a new regulation amending Annexes VII to XI of the REACH Regulation. The new regulation will clarify certain information requirements for registering chemicals and increase the legal certainty of the evaluation practices already applied by the European Chemicals Agency. The new regulations will apply from 8 January 2022.

The main changes concern:

• requirements for in vitro testing for eye irritation and in vivo testing for skin or eye irritation,
• requirements and adaptations for 28-day and 90-day repeated dose toxicity studies,
• specific rules for adapting reproductive toxicity studies, and
• additional requirements for human health and environmental testing to be performed at appropriately high dose levels.

For more information on the changes to REACH, please contact us.

Keeping more people safe from poisons in Europe

Poison centre notifications exceed one million!

In June, the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) announced that over one million poison centre notifications were successfully submitted by companies. With the volume of submitted notifications, it is expected that EU poison centres will now have far more accurate information to provide help in emergency situations related to chemical products.

The number of notifications will most likely continue to grow as we are in a transition period until 1st January 2025 for products that had been previously notified according to the national schemes.

This requirement has quickly become an important part of chemical business as it is more widely recognised and is a standard part of labelling and chemical product lifecycle.

Landbell Group company, H2 Compliance works closely with companies to help ensure compliance in this area, together with advising on appropriate strategy and solutions.

Please contact us for further information.