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Inspectors prepare for EU-wide control of chemicals sold online

ECHA/NR/18/66

The Enforcement Forum and its Biocidal Product Regulation Subgroup (BPRS) kicked off preparations for a coordinated project where inspectors will control the chemicals sold online in all EU and EEA countries. They also discussed the quality of safety data sheets (SDSs) with stakeholder organisations in an open session.

Helsinki, 21 November 2018 – The Forum and the BPRS started to prepare for the REACH-EN-Force-8 (REF-8) project, which will target chemicals sold online. The project will cover duties under REACH restriction, classification, labelling and packaging as well as BPR duties relevant to biocidal products sold online. Preparations will run through 2019, where inspectors will identify common methods of targeting goods online and dealing with internet duty holders. Inspections will be carried out during 2020 and the report is expected in 2021.

Several other aspects were on the agenda during the meeting, with one day allocated for an open session with 17 stakeholder organisations. During the open session, Forum and the stakeholders discussed possibilities for improving the quality of safety data sheets (SDSs) as well as a number of issues ranging from ways in which DUs address differences between exposure scenarios sent by suppliers to management of tanks for biocidal active substances.

The Forum also adopted its Work Programme for 2019-2023 during the meeting. It clearly lists the enforcement priorities for the coming years for all pieces of legislation under the remit of the Forum and BPRS. The work programme will be published by the end of 2018.

More information on the discussions from the meeting is available in the annex.

Further information

The Forum for Exchange of Information on Enforcement (Forum) held its 31st meeting in Brussels on 14-16 November 2018, while its Subgroup dealing with Biocidal Products Regulation (BPRS) met for the sixth time on 12 November. The Forum is a network of authorities responsible for the enforcement of the REACH, CLP and PIC regulations in the EU, Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein.

In 2017, the Forum set up the Biocidal Products Regulation Subgroup (BPRS) which meets three times per year, back-to-back with the Forum plenary meetings to ensure a thorough, coordinated and harmonised enforcement.