162 substances shortlisted for possible regulatory action

ECHA/NA/17/01

ECHA has selected 162 substances from REACH registrations for further scrutiny by the Member State competent authorities in its annual IT screening exercise. The competent authorities will carry out a manual examination of the dossiers they prioritise to decide whether regulatory action is needed.

Helsinki, 25 January 2017 – The selection is based on an automated IT screening focusing on substances with potential carcinogenic, mutagenic or toxic to reproduction (CMR), persistent, bioaccumulative and toxic (PBT), endocrine-disrupting, sensitising or specific target organ toxicity following repeated exposure (STOT RE) properties.

Potential substances with these hazardous properties were then further prioritised based on uses that are likely to lead to exposure to humans or release to the environment. The Member State competent authorities will select substances from the shortlist for their manual examination.

If your company has registered one of substances now shortlisted, you will receive a letter from ECHA informing of the potential examination of your registration(s). We encourage you to update your dossiers to address any shortcomings as soon as possible. Up-to-date information will help the Member State authorities better assess whether the concern indicated by the screening is confirmed, and whether regulatory action is still needed.

You are also invited to a webinar taking place on 14 February. In this webinar, you will get more details about the screening process. You will also have the opportunity to ask questions from ECHA’s staff.

If the Member States or ECHA take actions on your substance, this information will be published on the Agency’s website, for example, in the list of substances potentially subject to compliance checks, the Registry of Intentions (RoI), the draft Community rolling action plan for substance evaluation, and the the Public Activities Coordination Tool (PACT). You can check the status of your substance through the Search for chemicals available on ECHA’s homepage.

ECHA does not make the list of shortlisted substances public as it is purely based on automated selection by IT and manual verification is needed to confirm a potential concern.

Background

ECHA and the Member State competent authorities conduct IT and manual screening annually as part of the common screening approach. The aim is to identify substances that pose a risk for human health or the environment and take them forward to the most appropriate REACH and CLP processes to ensure their safe use. The common screening approach is part of the SVHC Roadmap to 2020 implementation plan.

The previous three rounds of IT screening have identified altogether 893 substances for further scrutiny. Of those, Member States have examined 581 substances. 78 % required follow-up activities with some substances having more than one outcome. See the graph below for more information.

Follow-up activities from the previous three substance screenings. One substance can have more than one outcome.