ECHA & Authorities push for compliance with authorisation duties

The Enforcement Forum’s EU-wide project on inspections of REACH authorisation duties found that the majority of users, mainly SMEs, already comply with the authorisation requirement to control risks. Enforcement measures taken by authorities during the project aim to push companies towards compliance. 

Helsinki, 8 March 2023 - During this project, the enforcement authorities of 28 countries carried out 690 inspections at 516 companies. The most commonly controlled substances of very high concern (SVHCs) were chromium trioxide and strontium chromate, which are used, for example, in surface treatment or chrome plating. The inspections primarily focused on downstream users, specifically small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), who are the final users of the SVHCs.

In one of four inspections (26 %) of downstream users, inspectors found that the substance was not used in compliance with conditions set out in the European Commission's authorisation decision granted to their supplier. Consequently, in these companies, workers or the environment were not being adequately protected from possible adverse effects of the SVHCs. 

Inspectors also discovered that for 20 % of checked authorised substances, downstream users did not notify ECHA of their use. In addition, for 35 % of checked substances, suppliers failed to communicate information about operational conditions, risk management or monitoring arrangements specified in the authorisation decision to the rest of the supply chain.