New consumer exposure example helps companies to comply with REACH

ECHA/NI/15/16

ECHA has published an illustrative example of consumer exposure to substances in articles to help companies comply with their obligations under REACH.

Helsinki, 11 May 2015 - Under REACH, registrants have to assess exposure and risk from a substance which becomes part of an article (so-called article  service life) ; this applies to a substance which fulfils the criteria specified in Article 14(4). They also have to report the conditions of safe use in the exposure scenario. ECHA has published the example, as registrants have often not addressed this assessment in their registration dossiers.

The example illustrates the level of knowledge and expertise required to make sure that exposure estimation tools are correctly used. It also demonstrates how the limitations within the models can be addressed and how they can be reflected in the exposure scenarios for the chemical safety report (CSR).

The example's main objectives are:

• To emphasise the relevance of the article service life in the context of the chemical safety assessment.
• To show how the article service life can be assessed and how meaningful exposure scenarios can be generated from the assessment.
• To explain what type of considerations are needed within such an assessment.

The exposure scenario for the chemical safety report has been generated with ECHA's Chemical Safety Assessment and Reporting tool, Chesar (version 2.3).