In a press release published on April 17, 2019, the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) announced the first report from its Integrated Regulatory Strategy, which “presents a mapping of the universe of registered substances that are on the EU market” and “helps authorities to identify, plan and monitor the progress on identifying and regulating substances of concern.” The report finds that around:
- “270 substances are of high priority for risk management;
- 1,300 substances are of high priority for data generation;
- 450 substances are considered of low priority as already sufficiently regulated;
- 500 substances have been concluded to be currently of low priority after assessment”
The focus within ECHA is reported to be “on the 4,700 substances registered at above 100 metric tons per year” of which more than 40% are already allocated into one of these four pools of chemicals listed above. However, there are still around 2,700 substances that have not yet been allocated to one of these pools and represent a so-called “uncertain area,” which is “what is left after over 10 years of systematically screening for substances of high concern.” Main recommendations of the report include further optimizing data generation and assessment to ensure regulatory risk management without delay, the prioritization of harmonized classification and labelling, review of the priority and appropriateness of still pending follow-up actions, and improving the quality of registration information, “in particular for substances with a high potential for exposure and currently lacking hazard data.”
Read more
ECHA (March 2021). “Universe of registered substances.”
ECHA (April 17, 2019). “Registered substances mapped for regulatory action.”
Luke Buxton (April 17, 2019). “Further data needed on over 1,000 high priority chemicals – Echa.” Chemical Watch
Cefic (April 17, 2019). “Cefic’s Reaction To ECHA’s Integrated Regulatory Strategy Report.”
Reference
ECHA (April 2019). “Mapping the chemical universe to address substances of concern: Integrated Regulatory Strategy Annual Report 2019.” (pdf)
