Work on guidance document for identifying endocrine disruptors proceeding

ECHA/NI/17/24

After an outline of the Guidance on how to identify pesticides and biocides with endocrine disrupting properties was published, a draft guidance has been developed and is currently subject to expert consultation. A public consultation will start later.

Helsinki, 20 July 2017 - A joint drafting group consisting of scientific staff from the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) and ECHA, with support from the Joint Research Centre, began working on the guidance in January 2017.

In April, the joint drafting group consulted a specially constituted consultation group on an initial draft of the guidance. The consultation group supports the joint drafting team in drafting the guidance document for public consultation. It includes members of ECHA’s Endocrine Disruptors Expert Group and pesticide experts from EU Member States and other stakeholder groups.

The joint drafting group received numerous comments and due to the amount and complexity, more time has been needed to take the comments into account than was originally envisaged. Therefore, the second consultation of the consultation group had to be adjourned until 17 July 2017. The deadline for commenting is 31 August 2017.

The joint drafting team will take the comments received from the consultation group into account and prepare a revised draft version of the Guidance, which will be subject to a public consultation. The public consultation will take place once the final endocrine disruptor criteria are adopted by the European Parliament and Council. The endorsement steps set out in the outline document will follow the public consultation.