Registrants who are part of a joint submission can decide to submit their Chemical Safety Report (CSR) jointly or separately. New Manual 19 ‘How to jointly submit Chemical Safety Reports’, outlines the principles which should be followed in that event.

However, there can be complexities related to the preparation of a joint CSR. For example, in practice it may be challenging to organise communication among the registrants in a way that all the necessary detailed information on uses and conditions of use are exchanged with the lead registrant. It may also be difficult to determine the responsibility for the declarations on implementation and the communication of risk management measures in part A of the joint CSR.

To support the registrants, ECHA has produced Data Submission Manual 19 ‘How to jointly submit Chemical Safety Reports’, describing how to prepare and submit a joint CSR in the IUCLID 5 registration dossier.

See also: http://echa.europa.eu/reachit/joint_submission_en.asp

(Source: ECHA)

A new, joint network of REACH and CLP (Classification, Labelling and Packaging) helpdesks has been formed and is called Help Net.

At its last meeting in October 2009, the REACH Helpdesk Correspondents’ Network (REHCORN) was expanded to include also the national CLP Helpdesks to form a single network called Help Net. ECHA provides the Secretariat for the network. A web-based IT application (Help Net Exchange) will be used by the network to enable discussions and ensure that consistent answers are given across Europe.

A Help Net Steering Group will consist of representatives of the national REACH and CLP helpdesks of the 27 Member States, Norway, Iceland and ECHA. It will meet on a regular basis to discuss issues of common interest, future activities and the functioning of the Network. The European Commission is an associated member of the network and the meetings of the Help Net Steering Group are also attended by observers. The new Help Net Steering Group replaces REHCORN which had been operational as the steering body of the network of REACH helpdesks since April 2007.

The Steering Group can invite representatives from candidate countries or stakeholder organisations who host an EU wide REACH or CLP helpdesk as observers. Currently, six industry associations, along with Croatia and Turkey, are observers of the Help Net Steering Group meetings.

(Source: ECHA)

As part of its ongoing SIEF awareness campaign ECHA is preparing a special service for Lead Registrants. “One of the upcoming events in this campaign is a Lead Registrant workshop. However, to benefit from the workshop and the special service, ECHA encourages Lead Registrants to identify themselves and to register through the ECHA website. Over the past three months close to 650 Lead Registrants have informed the Agency of their nomination via ECHA’s homepage. Although their number is constantly increasing, it still does not match the higher number of SIEFs that are expected to submit their joint dossiers by the first registration deadline (30 November 2010). ECHA therefore would like to remind companies of the urgency to get their SIEFs established as soon as possible and to inform the Agency of the nomination of the Lead Registrant within each SIEF.”

“Registering as Lead Registrant not only ensures that your company will become eligible for dedicated assistance but also helps ECHA identify the specific problems that you might encounter in your SIEF. Furthermore, by informing ECHA of the progress made within your SIEF you can help the Agency in better anticipating the rate of submissions of registration dossiers ahead of the next registration deadline. It is important to realise that companies that notify the Agency of their status as Lead Registrant do not face any further liabilities beyond their responsibilities already laid down by the REACH Regulation. However, in case the role of Lead Registrant is transferred to another company, ECHA would appreciate to be informed of such a change.”

(Source: ECHA)

ECHA has updated REACH-IT by adding an online inquiry submission functionality

In addition, ECHA has published an Industry User Manual outlining the checks that the Agency makes immediately after a dossier has been received.

On 7 April a new version of REACH-IT was successfully installed after undergoing a long period of testing. It further completes the system and improves its performance. REACH-IT has now the ability to be remotely accessible by Member States Competent Authorities through secure network connections. Before getting access, these authorities will need to commit to and implement ECHA’s standard security requirements, which are prepared by ECHA’s Security Officers Network and submitted for approval to the forthcoming Management Board meeting.

The most important new functionalities for industry are:

Creation and submission of inquiries online

The new online functionality for inquiries is simple to use. It enables the creation and submission of inquiries directly online via REACH-IT. The earlier method of creating an inquiry first in IUCLID 5 and then submit it via REACH-IT will remain operational. A new REACH-IT Industry User Manual 11 (Online dossier creation and submission for inquiries) is available on ECHA website to help companies with the new functionality.

To subscribe to the ECHA news alerts and newsletter, send your e-mail address to: info@echa.europa.eu

European Chemicals Agency Annankatu 18, P.O. Box 400, FI-00121 Helsinki, Finland

Tel.: +358 9 6861 80 | Fax +358 9 6861 8210 | http://echa.europa.eu | press@echa.europa.eu

Change of names

This release will also allow companies to change their name in REACH-IT. Changes of legal personality will be covered in the next release. A summary clarifying the duties of pre-registrants, registrants, PPORD notifiers and inquirers in cases where they change their name or legal personality is available in a REACH-IT Fact Sheet (see Further Information below for details).

How to submit a dossier successfully

Thanks to feedback from REACH-IT users, ECHA has published a REACH-IT Data Submission Manual 8 outlining the checks that the Agency makes immediately after a dossier has been submitted by a company to ensure that it can be processed. The document applies to registration, inquiry and PPORD (product and process orientated research and development) submissions and is designed to ensure that companies can successfully submit a dossier via REACH-IT. It is recommended that companies submitting dossiers to ECHA read the new Manual on Dossier

Submission Business Rules document in conjunction with “Data Submission Manual 4: How to submit a valid dossier to ECHA and complete the dossier header.”

News on the REACH-IT home page

The home page of REACH-IT provides now short REACH-IT related news and messages. These will inform the users about changes made in the application and forthcoming maintenance breaks.

Further Information

General information on inquiry: http://echa.europa.eu/reachit/inquiry_en.asp

REACH-IT Industry User Manuals and Data Submission Manuals can be accessed at:

http://echa.europa.eu/reachit/supp_docs_en.asp

The REACH-IT home page can be accessed at: https://reach-it.echa.europa.eu/

Full details on dossier submission can be found on ECHA website at: http://echa.europa.eu/reachit_en.asp

A REACH-IT Fact Sheet clarifying the duties of pre-registrants, registrants, PPORD notifiers and inquirers in cases where they change their name or legal personality can be accessed at:

http://echa.europa.eu/doc/reachit/fact_sheets/reach_it_factsheet_legal_entity_change_20090417.pdf

If you have questions in relation to your submission/s please send them by using the REACH-IT Enquiry on specific submission to ECHA form. It can be accessed at:

http://echa.europa.eu/about/contact-form_en.asp

(Source: European Chemicals Agency)

As the bulk files in queue have been processed, the number of pre-registrations has increased to 2.6 million. This is more than 20 times the expected volume and most of the information was received at the very end of the pre-registration period.

ECHA has received pre-registrations for over 140,000 items, some of which are not substances requiring registration under the REACH Regulation. In fact, the pre-registrations cover the whole of EINECS (the European INventory of Existing Commercial Substances), and all the substances covered by the Directive on notification of new substances. There are also a large number of pre-registrations with only CAS numbers; for which ECHA will use the names provided by the Chemical Abstracts Service of the American Chemical Society.

However, a significant proportion of the pre-registered items do not have any numbers and these will have to be checked further to establish their status as substances with the aim of helping our stakeholders in the next stages of the REACH process. ECHA has also noted that a number of companies which have submitted pre-registrations are not pre-registrants under the REACH Regulation and their pre-registrations may not be valid. A comprehensive check of these pre-registrations will have an impact on the lists of companies in the pre-SIEFs which are the preparatory step towards the SIEFs (Substance Info Exchange Forums). Finally, ECHA is also deleting the pre-registrations of companies which have asked for this by the deadline of 1 December.

(Source: European Chemicals Agency)

The European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) was officially opened today by European Commission President José Manuel Barroso and Vice-President Günter Verheugen together with Gérard Onesta, Vice-President of the European Parliament, and Finnish Prime Matti Vanhanen. Located in Helsinki, ECHA is responsible for managing the implementation of the REACH requirements in relation to the registration, evaluation, authorisation and restriction processes of chemical substances.

Through REACH more information will be publicly available on hazardous chemicals found on the market, in the workplace and the environment, and the chemicals industry will be expected to innovate to find safe alternatives to substances of great concern.”

(Source: European Commission)