Q&A info

The information required for the SCIP database must already be communicated throughout the supply chain under REACH Article 33(1). Therefore, besides administrative contact details, suppliers of articles need to submit the following information to ECHA:
 
- information that allows the identification of the article;
- the name, concentration range and location of the Candidate List substance(s) present in that article; and
- other information to allow the safe use of the article, notably information to ensure proper management of the article once it becomes waste. 
 
Duty holders can provide further information on a voluntary basis.
 
A detailed list of all information requirements is given in the "Detailed Information Requirements" document:     
 
Article 9(1)(i) of the revised Directive 2008/98/EC on waste (hereafter referred to as the Waste Framework Directive or the WFD1) requires "that any supplier of an article as defined in point 33 of Article 3 of Regulation (EC) No 1907/2006 of the European Parliament and of the Council provides the information pursuant to Article 33(1) of that Regulation to the European Chemicals Agency as from 5 January 2021".
 
According to Article 33(1) of Regulation (EC) No 1907/2006 (the REACH Regulation): "Any supplier of an article containing a substance meeting the criteria in Article 57²and identified in accordance with Article 59(1)³ in a concentration above 0,1 % weight by weight (w/w) shall provide the recipient of the article with sufficient information, available to the supplier, to allow safe use of the article including, as a minimum, the name of that substance".
 
An objective⁴ of Article 33(1) of the REACH Regulation is to enable supply chain actors to manage the risks arising from the use of articles containing substances of very high concern (SVHC) that are put on the "Candidate List"⁵.
 
Article 9(2) of the WFD provides that information pursuant to Article 33(1) has to be included in a database to be used primarily by waste treatment operators. The information made available to those operators via the database has to be useful for the waste treatment phase of the article’s lifecycle, and enable the identification and effective treatment of waste containing SVHC, as laid down in recital 38 of the WFD elaborating the objective of the database:
 
"When products, materials and substances become waste, the presence of hazardous substances may render that waste unsuitable for recycling or the production of secondary raw materials of high quality… It is necessary to promote measures to reduce the content of hazardous substances in materials and products, including recycled materials, and to ensure that sufficient information about the presence of hazardous substances and especially substances of very high concern is communicated throughout the whole life cycle of products and materials. In order to achieve those objectives, it is necessary to improve the coherence among the law of the Union on waste, on chemicals and on products and to provide a role for the European Chemicals Agency to ensure that the information about the presence of substances of very high concern is available throughout the whole life cycle of products and materials, including at the waste stage.” 
 
In view of these elements, the information to be provided to ECHA based on Articles 9(1)(i) and (2) of the WFD has to include information available to the supplier that allows: 
- the identification of the article; 
- the SVHC in the article, its concentration range and its location, as appropriate; and 
- possibly any other information on the safe use of the article, notably information which is necessary to ensure proper management of the article once it becomes waste. 
 
Therefore, the minimum available information which the supplier has to communicate to ECHA consists of: 
i) information relevant to the identification of the article; 
ii) name, concentration range and location of the SVHC; 
iii) where information in point ii) is not sufficient, other information on the safe use of the article, in particular, available information that is relevant to ensure proper management of the article as waste. 
 
ECHA may envisage the possibility for the supplier to provide other information on a voluntary basis. 
 
ECHA has implemented this approach in the "Detailed Information Requirements" document for the database.
 
Notes:
¹ Directive (EU) 2018/851 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 30 May 2018 amending Directive 2008/98/EC on waste

² Article 57 defines criteria for substances to be included in the Candidate List.

³ Article 59 sets out the procedure for the purpose of identifying substances meeting the criteria referred to in Article 57 and establishing a Candidate List

⁴ Further details on the aim of REACH Article 33, please see subchapter 3.2.1 of the Guidance on requirements for substances in articles and paragraphs 77 and 78 of the judgment of the Court of Justice in case C-106/14.  

⁵ See recitals 56 and 58 of the REACH Regulation.
 
(source: Commission non-paper on the implementation of articles 9(1)(i) and 9(2) of the revised Waste Framework Directive 2008/98/EC, distributed to the CARACAL and Waste Expert Group in June 2019, ref. Ares(2019)3936110)

The information submitted to the SCIP database will be publicly available and therefore readily available to waste operators to bridge the current gap in the information flow. 

ECHA will publish the information, as received, on its website. The quality of the data remains the responsibility of each duty holder.

At the same time, ECHA will ensure the protection of confidential business information where justified. For example, the required mandatory data that allow to establish links between actors in the same supply chain will not be made publicly available.