Data on chemicals needs to be improved

ECHA/NR/18/56

ECHA welcomes the results of the German authorities’ study on REACH compliance and agrees with its assessment: the quality of data on chemicals in registration dossiers still needs to improve.

Helsinki, 17 October 2018 - The REACH compliance study by the German Federal Institute for Risk Assessment (BfR) and the German Environment Agency (UBA) comes to a similar conclusion as ECHA in its work in evaluating registration dossiers: in a majority of dossiers ECHA opens for compliance check, important safety information on chemicals needs to be requested.

The law requires ECHA to check at least 5 % of the registration dossiers for compliance. The Agency focuses its work on substances that matter the most for human health and the environment. When ECHA issues a decision and requires companies to provide the missing information, a large majority brings their dossiers into compliance. If in the end registrants do not comply with REACH, the national authorities have the responsibility for enforcement actions.

ECHA’s Executive Director Bjorn Hansen says: “After 10 years of REACH, we now have all substances on the EU market registered in one harmonised system. The Commission’s report on the 10 years of REACH concludes that safety in the EU has increased. But there is still much to do. Both industry and authorities must increase their efforts to improve the safety information on chemicals. We are working to become more efficient and impactful in our work on compliance.”

The aim of compliance checks under REACH is to bring the registration dossiers into compliance with information requirements. They are not used to prevent companies’ access to markets.