ECHA maps substances for regulatory action | Report: "Mapping the chemical universe to address substances of concern"

The first report of the Integrated Regulatory Strategy presents a mapping of the universe of registered substances that are on the EU market. This information helps authorities to identify, plan and monitor the progress on identifying and regulating substances of concern.

The report visualises the work that ECHA and the Member States have done to transform the vast data generated under REACH into knowledge on which substances need further hazard information, further risk management measures or for which substances authorities can conclude that they are not a priority at the moment.

Within the report, registered substances are divided into three main pools:

i) High priority for risk management, covering around 270 substances. These are substances with an identified concern and for which further regulatory work is ongoing or can start based on currently available information.

ii) High priority for data generation and assessment, with around 1 300 substances of potential concern. Here further data needs to be generated or assessed to enable authorities to decide whether further regulatory risk management is needed.

iii) Low priority for further regulatory action at present. In this group, around 450 substances are considered as already sufficiently regulated and almost 500 substances have been concluded as low priority after assessment.

Currently, the focus is on the 4 700 substances registered above 100 tonnes. We have allocated already more than 40 % of these substances to the above pools of substances. The list of the substances will be published at the end of the year on ECHA website and will be updated as the work progresses.

However, authorities still need to clarify in which pool the remaining 2 700 substances belong. This uncertain area is what is left after more than 10 years of systematic screening, focusing on substances of high concern. ECHA foresees that a significant number of them will undergo compliance checks or substance evaluation in the coming years to generate the necessary information for priority setting and assessment. Authorities need to speed up work on this uncertain area and to shorten the time between identifying a concern and initiating risk management measures. In particular, action to harmonise the classification or action under other legislation should be taken faster.

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