ECHA

You have to notify a substance to the Classification & Labelling (C&L) Inventory established at ECHA in cases where you are placing the substance on the market and you either:

• Manufacture the substance and it is subject to registration under the REACH Regulation; or
• Import the substance and it is subject to registration under the REACH Regulation; or
• Manufacture or import the substance and it is classified as hazardous, irrespective of the quantity; or
• Import a mixture which contains the substance that is classified as hazardous and is present above the relevant concentration limit, which results in the classification of the mixture as hazardous according to the CLP Regulation; or
• Import an article containing substances which are subject to registration under Article 7 of the REACH Regulation.

Only Representative or importer - who should notify?

Only Representatives (ORs) may submit the information needed for notification to the Inventory as part of a REACH registration dossier. Where a separate notification to the Inventory is necessary, the EU importer(s) would normally have to submit the notification.

If non-EU operators, for confidentiality reasons, do not want to disclose the composition of their substances or mixtures to their EU importers, they may appoint one of the importers to notify on behalf of the other importers (notification as a group). 

Alternatively, a third party who is not itself a manufacturer or importer (e.g. an OR who has already been appointed for the purposes of registration under REACH) may submit a group notification on behalf of the EU importers. Such a third party can submit the notification, but cannot take over the obligations of the importers that are part of the group. If such a solution is used, the submitting entity must be able to document that it has been mandated to act on behalf and in the name of the manufacturer(s)/importer(s) that are part of the group and that the manufacturer(s)/importer(s) acknowledge that they remain solely and fully responsible to fulfil all their obligations associated with the notification.

The documentation related to the creation of this group of manufacturer(s)/importer(s) together with the data and information on which C&L are based may need to be made available to the Competent Authorities and to the relevant Enforcement Authorities.

What should I do first?

As a first step, you should read the Practical guide 7: How to Notify Substances to the Classification & Labelling Inventory (see below) which helps you to identify whether you are obliged to notify your substance to the C&L Inventory. The guide will also provide you with an introduction on how to do the notification in practice. You can also read more on the information requirements and the notification tools by following the links below or in the sidebar.