ECHA CHEM is a web page on the ECHA web site, itself notoriously difficult to navigate. However, it must be said that improvements are appearing. The ECHA CHEM page is nearly comprehensible! While intuitive may still be some ways off, at least extracting information about REACH on this page is not painful. For readers interested in REACH news and REACH compliance tools, we are running this breakdown.
ECHA CHEM in a nutshell. The REACH Regulation (or REACH pandemic?) provides that various types of information submitted to ECHA or documents that are produced as an outcome of different REACH processes are to be published on the ECHA website. Under the ECHA CHEM web section you will find public information and documents from REACH processes as they become available.
Registry of intentions. This Registry provides information on the Intentions of the Member States to submit proposals for harmonised Classification and Labelling of substances, proposals for identification of Substances of Very High Concern, and proposals for restrictions.
List of pre-registered substances. The REACH Regulation requires that ECHA will publish by Jan. 1, 2009, a list of substances which have been preregistered between June 1 and Dec. 1, 2008.
Authorisation. The two first steps of the authorisation procedure are the identification and inclusion in the “Candidate List” of Substances of Very High Concern, and the prioritisation of substances to be included in Annex XIV of REACH (the “Authorisation List “).
Candidate List of Substances of Very High Concern for Authorisation. In the framework of the authorisation process, Member States Competent Authorities or the ECHA, on a request by the Commission, may prepare Annex XV dossiers for the identification of substances of very high concern. The outcome of this identification procedure is a list of substances (“the Candidate List”), which are candidates for eventual inclusion in the List of Substances Subject to Authorisation (Annex XIV of REACH).
Annex XIV recommendations. The REACH Regulation requires that ECHA identifies from the “Candidate List” priority substances to be included in Annex XIV of REACH (the “Authorisation List”) and then recommends Annex XIV entries for these substances to the European Commission. ECHA submitted its first recommendation to the European Commission on June 1, 2009.
Information from registration dossiers. ECHA is publishing information on substances and their properties from the registration dossiers submitted to ECHA.
Transitional measures regarding existing substances. The REACH Regulation provides transitional measures for certain existing substances under Regulation (EEC) No 793/93. These substances were prioritized due to being produced in large quantities or having possible persistent, bioaccumulative and toxic properties.
ECHA publishes the Annex XV transitional reports on priority substances submitted by the EU Member States. For some substances, manufacturers and importers need to submit additional information to the Member State Competent Authority in charge. Updated assessments and so-called “voluntary risk assessment reports” will also be published there.
See it all: http://echa.europa.eu/chem_data_en.asp