Co-registrants must make every effort to make sure that the cost of sharing information is determined in a fair, transparent and non-discriminatory way.

As a last resort, if no agreement has been reached, the potential registrant can file a data-sharing dispute with ECHA. The data-sharing dispute procedure is free of charge and can be managed without legal support.

When potential registrants submit a data-sharing dispute, they must provide documentary evidence showing the efforts made by the negotiating parties to reach an agreement.

To ensure equal treatment and the right to be heard, ECHA will also request the other party to provide documentary evidence.

ECHA will assess the parties' efforts to reach an agreement on the sharing of the data and its costs. This assessment is solely based on the negotiations, meaning all documented communication between the parties.

After the assessment, ECHA issues a decision allowing the potential registrant to refer to the requested data or requesting both parties to continue their negotiations. Non-confidential versions of ECHA's decisions on disputes are published online.

Data-sharing dispute decisions are appealable at the Board of Appeal within three months.