RAC concludes on two restrictions, discusses applications for authorisation and adopts harmonised classification and labelling opinions

ECHA's Risk Assessment Committee (RAC) has concluded on bisphenol A and decaBDE restrictions. The Committee has also evaluated four applications for authorisation and agreed on eight draft opinions for individual uses, as well as adopting eight opinions on harmonised classification and labelling.

News alert | More information about the adopted opinions (Annex)

SEAC concludes on two restriction proposals and agrees on two draft opinions on applications for authorisation

SEAC adopted its final opinion on the proposal from France to restrict the use of inorganic ammonium salts in cellulose insulation materials and agreed its draft opinion, in support of the proposal from ECHA to restrict the use of decaBDE as a flame retardant, for example, in plastics and textiles and following the recent supportive RAC opinion. The committee also considered the latest draft opinions of RAC for the uses of trichloroethylene.

News alert

Public consultation on SEAC's draft opinion on restricting decaBDE

Stakeholders are invited to comment the draft opinion of the Committee for Socio-Economic Analysis (SEAC) concerning the restriction proposal on decaBDE (EC No. 214-604-9). This public consultation is open from 17 June to 17 August 2015. The public consultation includes two specific questions related to automotive and recycling sectors.

Restrictions under consideration

Avoiding testing chemicals on animals

The People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, PETA, has presented a petition to ECHA about avoiding testing on animals. In its response, ECHA explains what it does to avoid unnecessary animal testing. The Agency also promotes the many alternative test methods that companies can use to demonstrate the impact of chemicals they produce on human beings.

ECHA is working with the Member States and the European Commission on several areas to verify that tests on vertebrate animals have only been conducted as a last resort.

News item | ECHA's response | Animal testing web pages | PETA's letter to ECHA

Registrants encouraged to re-assess information on reproductive toxicity

From 1 October, ECHA will start the decision making on testing proposals on the reproductive toxicity endpoint, i.e. extended one-generation reproductive toxicity study (EOGRTS). The Agency will soon contact registrants with pending testing proposals under examination in ECHA through REACH-IT and encourage them to update their testing proposal on reproductive toxicity to correspond with the REACH annexes.

News alert | News alert on EOGRTS March 2015

June Newsletter asks if you are affected by the REACH 2018 registration deadline

The June issue of the ECHA Newsletter is now online. Many of the articles and interviews this time have a connection to the REACH 2018 registration deadline. Identifying your substance is one of the first steps to take when preparing a registration dossier. To give you some advice on how to get started, we have interviewed Dr Stuart Niven from Harlan Laboratories Ltd. You can watch a video of the interview directly on our Newsletter web page or read it there in a more traditional manner.

Read the Newsletter | PDF version

Verification of fee reductions - ECHA's Management Board adjusts administrative charge levels

The Management Board of ECHA has revised the levels of the administrative charge. The new scales of the charge take into account the financial gain made from an incorrect declaration of company size. The review leads to reduced levels of the administrative charge being applied in certain cases where a wrong company size is established and where the difference between the incorrectly claimed fee and the applicable fee is small, such as for joint submissions in the low tonnage bands. The administrative charge is levied by ECHA on registrants that, in the process of verification, cannot prove their declared SME size category.

News alert | Management Board decision (MB/14/2015) | SME pages

New summary table available for applications for authorisation

Companies applying for authorisation for their substances need to fill in also a summary table of their risk management measures and operational conditions.

News alert | Preparing applications for authorisation

Customer insight survey

We have kicked off research about ECHA's website to find out more about our users' needs. If you wish to directly contribute, please send an email to web@echa.europa.eu by 30 June. We will then contact you with further information and involve you in the research.

New consultations for harmonised classification and labelling launched on three pesticides, one biocidal and one industrial substance

ECHA has launched five public consultations on the harmonised classification and labelling proposals for pyroxsulam (CAS 422556-08-9), amisulbrom (ISO) (CAS 348635-87-0), flutianil (ISO) (CAS 958647-10-4), chlorocresol; 4-chloro-m-cresol; 4-chloro-3-methylphenol, (EC 200-431-6), nonadecafluorodecanoic acid [1]; ammonium nonadecafluorodecanoate [2]; sodium nonadecafluorodecanoate [3], ( CAS 335-76-2 [1]; 3108-42-7 [2]; 3830-45-3 [3]).

The CLH dossiers for pyroxsulam, amisulbrom and flutianil are submitted by the United Kingdom and the substances do not have a harmonised classification.

Pyroxsulam is used as a herbicide. The dossier submitter is proposing classification for skin sensitisation and hazards to the aquatic environment.

Amisulbrom is used as a fungicide on grapes and potatoes. The dossier submitter is proposing classification for eye irritation, carcinogenicity and hazards to the aquatic environment.

Flutianil is used as a fungicide. The dossier submitter is suggesting classification for reproductive toxicity and hazards to the aquatic environment.

The dossier for chlorocresol; 4-chloro-m-cresol; 4-chloro-3-methylphenol is used as a biocidal product. The dossier submitter, France, is proposing to add classification for skin irritation, specific target organ toxicity – single exposure and hazards to the aquatic environment as well as to revise the current classification for acute toxicity and skin sensitisation.

Nonadecafluorodecanoic acid is used as a lubricant, wetting agent, plasticiser and corrosion inhibitor. The dossier submitter, Sweden, proposes classification for carcinogenicity and reproductive toxicity.

The final date for submitting comments is 31 July 2015.

Current CLH consultations

Registry of Intentions updated

Harmonised classification and labelling

Three new intentions for harmonised classification and labelling (CLH) were added to the Registry of Intentions for the following substances: ethanol, 2,2'-iminobis-, N-(C13-15-odd numbered, branched and linear alkyl) derivs. (EC 308-208-6), cypermethrin cis/trans +/- 40/ 60; (RS)-á-cyano-3-phenoxybenzyl (1RS,3RS;1RS,3SR)-3-(2,2-dichlorovinyl)-2,2-dimethylcyclopropanecarboxylate (EC 257-842-9) and chlorfenapyr (ISO) (CAS 122453-73-0).

Two dossiers for harmonised classification and labelling were submitted for the following substances: colecalciferol, vitamin D3 (EC 200-673-2) submitted by Sweden, and piperonyl butoxide (ISO) (EC 200-076-7) submitted by Greece.

Germany has withdrawn the following two CLH dossiers: Margosa extract from the kernels of Azadirachta indica extracted with water and further processed with organic solvents (EC 283-644-7) and Azadirachtin (CAS 11141-17-6).

Current CLH intentions | Submitted CLH proposals | Withdrawn CLH intentions and submissions

REACH 2018 webinar: Know your portfolio and start preparing now – register and secure your place

24 June 2015, 11:00-12:00 Helsinki (EEST, GMT +3)

This is the first webinar of a series focusing on practical information to successfully register by the deadline of 31 May 2018.

The webinar gives information to companies that do not have previous experience of registering chemicals under the REACH Regulation. It will provide a basic understanding of which substances in your portfolio need to be registered before the 2018 deadline, the required information and the main costs that need to be budgeted. You will also get a clear indication of how to move forward and where to find further information. The webinar will conclude with a Q&A session where any outstanding issues related to the topic will be addressed.

Register | Agenda | REACH 2018 web pages

Seminar on Applications for Authorisation on 29-30 June

29-30 June 2015, Helsinki

ECHA is organising a seminar in collaboration with Cefic and Eurometaux to improve future applicants' knowledge of the authorisation application procedure. The main topics to be covered include the content requirements for applications, the public consultation on possible alternatives, the analysis of alternatives and socio-economic analysis, as well as the formats, manuals and tools for the application submission.

The registration to attend the seminar has closed but the event will be webstreamed.

Seminar on Applications for Authorisation

Eighth meeting of the ECHA-Stakeholder Exchange Network on Exposure Scenarios (ENES 8) - materials available

The presentations from the ENES 8 meeting which took place on 20-21 May in Helsinki are now available on ECHA's website.

ENES 8 web page