Activities under IPA

Activities implemented under the Instrument for Pre-accession Assistance (IPA) are funded by the European Union. These ECHA-driven projects provide capacity building for the European Union candidate and potential candidate countries to support their implementation of the EU chemicals legislation, and cooperation with ECHA.

ECHA has been active in capacity building projects in the Western Balkans and Türkiye since 2009.

 

EU events

 

Helsinki Chemicals Forum
14-15 June 2018
Helsinki, Finland

The Helsinki Chemicals Forum is an independent annual forum engaging international authorities, industry leaders, NGOs, academics and the media in an open dialogue on safe use of chemicals. The programme included the following four panels: 1) Capacity building beyond 2020; 2) Endocrine disruptors as a challenge for risk communication; 3) Priority setting of chemicals – potential for harmonisation and synergies and 4) Plastics − role of chemicals management to solve the problem with micro plastics in the environment.

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ECHA Helpnet meeting
2 October 2018
Helsinki, Finland

For observers only: Montenegro, Serbia and Turkey

The meeting programme focused on updating the current issues in the BPR, CLP and REACH implementation as well as on the ECHA activities in Guidance, Forum and communication. The meeting consisted also of more in depth ½ day workshops on CLP and BPR.

 

Biocides Day Conference
24 October 2018
Helsinki, Finland

The Biocides Day Conference gave an insight into the latest developments in biocides at the EU level and provided a platform to discuss what should be improved for the next five years. The focus was on experiences from companies, stakeholders, Member States, European Commission and ECHA.

 

European Commission 2nd Conference on REACH, CLP and Biocides Enforcement
13 November 2018
Brussels, Belgium

The Commission conference on 13 Nov discussed the Chemicals Regulations enforcement in the EU and identified good practices in the field of enforcement.

 

ECHA’s Forum for Exchange of Information on Enforcement - Open session
14 November 2018
Brussels, Belgium

The Forum Open Session introduced the ECHA Forum Joint initiative with accredited stakeholder organisations (ASOs) on the safety data sheets’ quality improvement as well as covered several topics proposed by ASOs, e.g. supply chain communication, read-across approach. In addition, the participants got an update on the current and finalised ECHA Forum projects.

 

ECHA Helpnet meeting
2-4 April 2019
Helsinki, Finland

For observers only: Montenegro, Serbia and Turkey

The meeting programme focused on updating the current issues in the BPR, CLP and REACH implementation as well as on ECHA’s Guidance, Forum and communication activities.

 

Study visit to ECHA Helpdesk
21 May 2019
Helsinki, Finland

Targeted beneficiaries that have helpdesks: Montenegro and Serbia

The meeting programme focused on overviews of the work of the ECHA Helpdesk, as well as of the Montenegrin and Serbian National Helpdesks, aiming to improve ways of working together.

 

ECHA Conference
21-22 May 2019
Helsinki, Finland

The meeting programme included the following four sessions distributed over two days:

  1. Harmonised way to notify a poison centre
  2. Improving compliance of registration of data
  3. Tackling substances of concern
  4. Improving safe use of chemicals

 

Helsinki Chemicals Forum 2019
23-24 May 2019
Helsinki, Finland

The Helsinki Chemicals Forum is an independent annual forum engaging international authorities, industry leaders, NGOs, academics and the media in an open dialogue on the safe use of chemicals. The programme included the following five panels:

  1. How to choose the best possible risk management option to regulate substances of very high concern
  2. Grouping of chemical substances and how to avoid regrettable substitution
  3. How to measure the performance of different chemicals management systems
  4. Plastics and circularity – from pollution to a value-based proposition for all
  5. The quality of and access to data on chemicals

 

Biocides Day Conference
29 October 2019
Helsinki, Finland

The Biocides Day Conference gave an insight into the latest developments in biocides at the EU level with a focus on the assessment of endocrine-disrupting properties and developments with biocidal product families. The event also provided the platform to discuss the next steps for companies, stakeholders, Member States, the European Commission and ECHA.

 

Study visits

 

Study visit to the German Federal Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
8 May 2018
Dortmund, Germany

This study visit gave an opportunity to the beneficiaries to gain first-hand information on the functioning of a Member State National Helpdesk. The programme consisted of presentations on REACH and CLP implementation at a national level, the operation of the German National helpdesk, the organisation of the ECHA Committee work, Forum activities and enforcement from the German point of view.

 

Workshops

 

IPA Meeting and Workshop on Substance Evaluation, Risk Management and Dissemination
13 June 2018
Helsinki, Finland

The IPA Meeting and Workshop introduced the current IPA project and its planned activities and gave the beneficiaries the opportunity to present the status of the implementation of the chemical management in their country. There were also presentations on ECHA substance evaluation, risk management and IUCLID (International Uniform Chemical Information Database).

 

Biocides IT tools training
23 October 2018
Helsinki, Finland

The Biocides IT tools training was a tailor made training for the IPA beneficiaries. The training by ECHA experts gave an introduction to BPR dossiers, biocides IT tools such as IUCLID, SPC Editor and R4BP 3 as well as related reports.

 

 

E-learning course: The Practical Guide to Ecotoxicology and the Environment
Online

This training course provided regulatory managers in authorities and in businesses with the knowledge to recognise the ways in which chemicals may interact with the environment and the precautionary measures which are needed to prevent harm. It explained the key points and concepts of ecotoxicology and the environment, aquatic, terrestrial, vertebrate and invertebrate toxicity, and the significance of indirect exposure to humans via the environment, environmental risk and exposure assessment, different testing strategies and using them to comply with the data requirements of REACH and CLP.