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All known substances of very high concern being tackled

ECHA/PR/17/08

With three years to go before the target of having all relevant currently known substances of very high concern on the Candidate List, progress is on track. All substances for which there is sufficient information on the hazard properties have already been addressed. 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.

Helsinki, 25 April 2017 – The third report on implementing “The Roadmap for SVHC identification and REACH Risk management measures from now to 2020” describes the achievements and progress made from its adoption in 2013 to the end of 2016.

Each year since 2013, ECHA has screened the full REACH/CLP substance database to identify substances of concern. This resulted in around 900 substances being put forward for further manual screening by the Member States, of which more than 600 have now been screened.

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. In total, there are currently 540 substances, where more information is being requested.

ECHA’s Executive Director Geert Dancet drew attention to the high proportion of dossiers containing inadequate information: “The compliance of the data provided by companies has got to improve. The best companies do this well – they take pride in providing reliable data to us and to their customers and they see it as an integral part of their business strategy towards a sustainable future.”

ECHA and the Member States have started to look more at groups of structurally similar substances. This will 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.

Since 2013, ECHA and the Member States have decided on the best risk management option for a total of 67 substances of potential concern. Around half are them are being listed as substances of very high concern (SVHCs).

Background information

The SVHC Roadmap gives an EU-wide commitment to having all relevant, currently known substances of very high concern (SVHCs) included in the Candidate List by 2020. Implementing the roadmap should also provide a strong basis for the work beyond 2020 - to identify and address the substances of most concern.