REACH Authorisation: updated prioritisation approach

The European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) has published the paper "Prioritisation of substances of very high concern (SVHCs) for inclusion in the Authorisation List (Annex XIV) - 10 February 2014" containing an updated prioritisation approach to recommend substances from the Candidate List for inclusion in Annex XIV (Authorisation List). This approach is an integral part of the authorisation process. The paper focuses on the description and discussion of the three priority criteria set in REACH Article 58(3).

The priority of a substance should be verbally described as well as expressed by the score derived per Article 58(3) criterion and the total score, i.e. both the quantitative and qualitative assessment should complement each other. In cases where a tonnage breakdown per use is available that information will be used to weight the wide dispersiveness of different uses thereby arriving at an overall priority score that more realistically reflects the use pattern of a substance.

Registration data are the main source of information for the prioritisation assessment. In addition, other REACH and CLP data, in particular downstream user reports, are taken into account. Information from other sources can be used, too, if these are representative and reliable. Further considerations can be taken into account for the final conclusion on which substances to be recommended for inclusion in Annex XIV. Such further considerations must be clearly set out and be in line with the role and purpose of the recommendation step in the authorisation process.

In each prioritisation round, substances added in June of the previous year (or earlier) and not yet recommended will be assessed. Substances added to the Candidate List in December of the previous year will not be considered for the priority setting immediately in the following year. Instead they will be considered in subsequent rounds (e.g., if added in December year 1 the substance will be considered in year 3).


Related Links:
- ECHA Paper: "Prioritisation of substances of very high concern (SVHCs) for inclusion in the Authorisation List (Annex XIV) - 10 February 2014"
- ECHA webpage: "Recommendation for inclusion in the Authorisation List"