SME verification: only one administrative charge for joint application for authorisation

ECHA/NR/24/20

Following the new provisions confirmed by the European Commission, ECHA  will start issuing only one administrative charge to a joint authorisation application that includes applicants with wrongly declared company sizes. This will be the case even if more than one applicant incorrectly claims to be a micro, small or medium-sized enterprise (SME).   

Helsinki, 23 July 2024 - The amount of the administrative charge will be determined by the size of the largest applicant within the joint application for authorisation group. This follows the approach to fees outlined in the Commission’s Implementing Regulation on fees and charges payable to ECHA. The invoice will be sent to the lead applicant. If all applicants have declared their company sizes correctly, no administrative charge will be issued.

The definition of ‘financial gain’ is also amended, extending its application to ex-ante verification which takes place before the invoice is issued. As SMEs benefit from lower fees, ‘financial gain’ refers to the amount of fees which have been avoided due to false or incomplete information.

The levels of the administrative charge and the other provisions remain unchanged.

The Commission has confirmed the revised and consolidated decision of ECHA's Management Board proposing the changes. The decision applies as of 22 July 2024.

Background

The REACH Regulation and the REACH Fee Regulation foresee that ECHA can levy a charge for administrative and technical services. 

The charges are adopted by ECHA’s Management Board, following a favourable opinion from the European Commission. Previously, the charges were levied based on three Management Board decisions confirmed by the Commission in 2010, 2013 and 2015. The current consolidated and revised decision combines these decisions into one and gives the legal basis for ECHA to levy only one administrative charge for joint application for authorisation.