More clarity for read-across assessment

ECHA/NA/17/02

The Read-Across Assessment Framework (RAAF) now also contains environmental endpoints. This will help registrants anticipate how ECHA assesses their read-across cases. It will also help registrants to improve their dossiers.

Helsinki, 15 February 2017 – The updated framework now covers REACH information requirements concerning human health, environmental fate and environmental hazards.

Registrants can use it to check the quality of their own read-across cases. ECHA’s experts use the framework to assess read-across cases in a consistent and transparent manner. The first version of the assessment framework covering the human health endpoints was published in 2015.

Read-across is the most commonly used alternative method under REACH. It works by using test results for a particular property of a substance to predict that property for another substance. When used correctly, it can help to avoid unnecessary testing on vertebrate animals.

The framework does not replace the official guidance on read-across for registrants but complements it. A document with considerations on read-across involving UVCBs and multi-constituent substances is also in preparation. It will be published in March 2017.