Who is ECHA?

As humans, we are surrounded by chemicals and other substances daily. Unfortunately, some of those are hazardous. Our societies must control them and ensure proper safety. It is where ECHA comes to our rescue. Also known as the European Chemical Agency, ECHA is a European Union regulation established in 2007. In short, ECHA works towards the safe use of chemicals. Indeed, ECHA legislations mean to protect human health and the environment.

How was ECHA Created?

REACH (EU Regulation 1907/2006) is the Registration, Evaluation, Authorization, and Restriction of Chemicals. On December 18th, 2006, the European Parliament approved the REACH regulation. They intended to address the numerous challenges around the evaluation and risk management of hazardous compounds. ECHA, in charge of the regulation enforcement, got signed by the Parliament on the same day. On June 1st, 2007, the REACH regulation was official. Today, REACH is part of the various legislations supervised and enforced by ECHA.

How does ECHA Work?

Per Title X, article 75 of the REACH regulation, ECHA:

[…] is established for the purposes of managing and in some cases carrying out the technical, scientific and administrative aspects of this Regulation and to ensure consistency at Community level in relation to these aspects.

The ECHA Internal Organization

A management board directs the Agency. Moreover, their team includes various committees under the management board. Per article 78, the board has authority over the acting executive director who oversees the different branches of ECHA. These branches are in charge, for example, of the following:

Submissions and Interactions,
Prioritization and Integration,
Hazard Assessment,
Risk Management,
Etc.

The ECHA Mission

The team of over 500 workers aims to improve chemical regulations. Here are examples of what ECHA does to protect both the people and the environment:

ECHA helps companies achieve compliance with EU legislation.
The Agency also collaborates with international organizations to raise awareness of chemical safety.
A free database is available on their website for anyone wishing to retrieve information on chemicals and their usage.
Moreover, ECHA collaborates with European governments and other stakeholders to identify hazardous chemicals and manage their risks.
Finally, by updating its legislation, the Agency encourages innovation by substituting harmful chemicals.

Legislations under the ECHA Management

ECHA has several enforced legislations and some convenient databases. Here are eight of them:

REACH (as detailed below).
Persistent Organic Pollutants, or POPs Regulation, following the Stockholm Convention and the Aarhus Protocol, regulates by prohibiting or restricting POPs.
The Classification, Labelling, and Packaging (CLP) Regulation. It aims to oversee the movement of substances and chemicals.
In the Biocidal Product Regulation (BPR), the concern is the use of biocidal products.
The Waste Framework Directive addressed waste management and its impacts on the environment and human health.
The Prior Informed Consent regulation (PIC) oversees the trade of banned or restricted substances, imported or exported.
The Chemical Agents Directive (CAD) and the Carcinogens and Mutagens Directive (CMD) are two regulations working towards the protection of the health of workers.
The Drinking Water Directive strived to prevent water from contamination hazards.

REACH, SVHCs, and Annex XVII

Adopted in 2007, REACH got enacted to improve the protection of human health and the environment from the hazards that chemicals can cause. In principle, REACH applies to all chemical compounds, not just those used in industrial processes. Indeed, it covers our daily life products, such as:

electrical equipment,
paints,
cleaning agents,
furniture;
clothing;
Etc.

As a result, the REACH regulation affects most businesses serving the EU market. As an importer, user, or seller, you may want to verify that the product you buy complies with REACH to avoid complications.

REACH targets so-called Substances of Very High Concern or SVHCs. SVHCs get added every six months to complete the list. If the SVHC declaration threshold in a product component is at or above 0.1% of weight by weight, it must appear on the public SCIP database.

REACH also contains another annex affecting articles, different from the SVHCs list. This annex provides a list of restrictions on the use of hazardous substances on the European market. It is known as REACH Annex XVII of the restricted substances list.

The SCIP Database

Understanding CLP

Lastly, the Classification, Labelling, and Packaging (CLP) regulations provide a high degree of health and environmental protection and the free movement of chemicals, mixes, and articles. The CLP’s primary goal is to assess whether material exhibits characteristics that lead to hazardous categorization.

Here is a step-by-step CLP classification:

The first step is to classify the in-scope substance as hazardous to improve education and communication on the matter.
From that point, the chemical gets analyzed to determine its hazard class and category from the classification criteria of CLP.
When classified, the mixture and its hazardous information get communicated through the supply chain. Labeling and Safety Data Sheets (SDS) are keys to communicating the danger of one unsafe substance to the user.

Other Tools of ECHA

Over the years, ECHA has gathered much information on various chemicals for all their legislation. The ECHA support page may bring an answer to questions one might have on a specific substance and its restrictions. Moreover, ECHA has many other tools, like:

The Interact Portal enables to team up with working groups to improve REACH;
The European Union System for the Evaluation of Substances (EUSES), a program that assists in conducting chemical risk evaluations; and
The ECHA-term page, on which you can browse any terms related to chemical terminology.

In Conclusion

Overall the ECHA is here to improve EU chemical legislation and protect human health and our environment. By complying with their legislation or helping improve the existing tools, you can help too.

Do you have any questions about ECHA-related legislation or hazardous substances? Contact Enviropass!

Environmental Assessment