Brussels, 31 March 2022. – Cefic has published its latest report on industry’s efforts to update and improve chemicals data in REACH registration dossiers. To increase transparency, companies involved in the REACH Dossier Improvement Action Plan have been requested, since 2021, to report on the data they have submitted or modified in the dossier reviews.
This was Cefic’s third progress report on the implementation of its voluntary Action Plan, which has united about 200 companies since its launch in 2019.
Sylvie Lemoine, Cefic Executive Director: “The EU chemicals industry remains committed to making REACH work, and Cefic will continue its cooperation with ECHA to help our industry fill in remaining data gaps. Safety testing and the generation of the necessary data required by ECHA often takes several years. One of the barriers is low acceptance of non-animal testing methods due to limitations of the legal text”.
Key 2021 highlights of the 3rd progress report include:
- Dossiers for 1122 substances were re-evaluated in 2021, a steady increase compared to 2020 and 2019.
- About half of these included generation of new data or updated information about the properties, uses, or exposure to a substance, which will enhance ECHA’s knowledge about hazards and risks of these chemicals.
- Dossiers of more than 6000 REACH substances are expected to be reviewed by 2026, according to estimates.
Sylvie Lemoine added, “We see the upcoming REACH revision as an opportunity to integrate validated New Approach Methodologies in EU chemicals policy as alternatives to animal testing, to help fill data gaps in the future. We also support revocation of registration numbers by ECHA in case of persistent failure to comply as a complementary mechanism to ensure dossiers properly reflect safety of chemicals”.
Sylvie Lemoine added, “We see the upcoming REACH revision as an opportunity to integrate validated New Approach Methodologies in EU chemicals policy as alternatives to animal testing, to help fill data gaps in the future. We also support revocation of registration numbers by ECHA in case of persistent failure to comply as a complementary mechanism to ensure dossiers properly reflect safety of chemicals”.
All statistics can be found in the report here.
About the REACH Dossier Improvement Action Plan
The REACH Dossier Improvement Action Plan is a voluntary initiative, launched by Cefic in 2019, to help its members systematically review data in previously submitted REACH registration dossiers. The initiative is implemented in cooperation with ECHA, towards achieving better alignment between submitted data and the current ECHA requirements.