Over 21 000 REACH registered substances mapped by regulatory action
With the aim to help Member States and EU authorities focusing on substances of (potential) concern and identifying adequate regulatory actions, ECHA has published a list of over 21 000 REACH registered substances mapped in its “chemical universe”.
But, what does it mean “chemical universe”? For those who are not familiar with the term, it refers to the mapping of registered substances based on the regulatory actions in place, initiated or considered for them.
That being said, the list categorizes the substances into five different pools as follows:
- Regulatory risk management ongoing: substances with confirmed hazards for human health and the environment.
- Regulatory risk management under consideration: substances that are currently being considered for regulatory risk management.
- Data generation: substances that require additional information to conclude whether further regulatory action is needed.
- Currently no further actions proposed: substances for which authorities have not proposed further regulatory action at the moment.
- Not yet assigned: substances currently registered under REACH but not yet assigned to any of the other pools.
The categorization of the substances on the list is currently focused on the substances that exceed an annual tonnage of 100t/a. With the goal set to complete the assignment of these substances by the end of 2020. The rest of the substances are to be assigned to a pool by 2027.
According to Jack de Bruijn, Director for Prioritisation and Integration, further hazard data will need to be generated for many substances, as non-compliant registrations are hampering progress. To that end, we have a joint action plan with the Commission to improve compliance of registrations to ensure they contain the necessary information to establish safe use.
The assignment into a pool is meant to support authorities and help them prioritise their actions. An assignment into one pool is not necessarily permanent, as new information surfaces, substances can move from one pool to another.
The list of substances can be accessed here
A snapshot of the chemical universe from August 2019. Source: ECHA