Access to documents

ECHA provides access to many key documents relating to the Agency's activities and processes on its website. The transparency webpage provides for an overview of the categories of documents published on ECHA website and the relevant links.

Legal framework 

Article 42 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights and Article 15(3) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union guarantee the principle of transparency and the rights of individuals (citizen and resident of European Union (‘EU’) countries) to access documents held by EU bodies. Transparency is one of the core values of ECHA.  
 

Access to documents is governed by the following rules and legislative provisions:

  • Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 of the European Parliament and the Council regarding public access to European Parliament, Council and Commission documents

This Regulation lays down the general principles and limits on such access in accordance with Article 255(2) of the EC Treaty and has been made applicable to documents held by ECHA – Art. 118(1) of the REACH Regulation.

 

Please note that a request to access to documents may fall under the exceptions provided for in Articles 4 and 9 of Regulation 1049/2001.

Applications

Citizens of the EU and natural or legal persons residing or having their registered office in an EU Member State have the right of access to ECHA documents under Article 2(1) of Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001. 

In order to process requests for access to documents certain personal data needs to be provided to the Agency. Your data will be processed in accordance with ECHA’s privacy rules and in line with Regulation (EU) 2018/1725 of 23 October 2018 on the protection of natural persons with regard to the processing of personal data by the Union institutions, bodies, offices and agencies and on the free movement of such data.

The form, address or fax number indicated below should also be used for requests for access to environmental information held by ECHA under Regulation (EC) No 1367/2006. This regulation refers to the application of the provisions of the Aarhus Convention on Access to Information, Public Participation in Decision-making and Access to Justice in Environmental Matters to Community institutions and bodies.

Requests for access to documents can be submitted:

  • by filling out a document request form
     
  • by ordinary mail to:
    European Chemicals Agency (ECHA)
    P.O. Box 400
    a FI-00121 Helsinki Finland
     
  • by fax: + 358 9 5897 5213

In order to enable us to process your request, please state your surname, forename, address, town and postcode, country, and telephone number.

In the event of a total or partial refusal at initial stage, applicants may, within 15 working days of receiving the initial reply, ask ECHA to reconsider its position by submitting a confirmatory application to the Executive Director of the Agency.  

Applicants can challenge ECHA’s confirmatory decision before the General Court or submit a complaint to the European Ombudsman.