As a manufacturer you have a responsibility to advise your customers on how to use your chemicals safely.

The main way to do this is through the extended safety data sheet (eSDS).

The REACH Regulation defines when a safety data sheet is required as well as its content and format. The "extended" part refers to the exposure scenario (ES), which has to be supplied if a hazardous substance is registered in a quantity above 10 tonnes per year. The exposure scenario describes how the exposure of humans and the environment to the substance can be controlled to ensure its safe use. The format of the exposure scenario is not defined in REACH, but stakeholders have worked to harmonise the layout and phrases used.

For more information, see ECHA’s Interactive guide on safety data sheets and exposure scenarios.

Communication up the supply chain

Your customers have the right and in some case the obligation to communicate information back up the supply chain. They have the right to make a use known upstream to their supplier, with the aim that this use may eventually be covered by the registration. This communication may also be done through the sector organisations by way of a sector use map.

Your customers also have the obligation to communicate upstream any new information on hazardous properties, regardless of the uses concerned, and any other information that might call into question the appropriateness of the risk management measures identified in a safety data sheet supplied to him. For this reason, as a manufacturer, you should have mechanisms in place to facilitate this upstream communication.