ECHA to publish more information on chemical substances

13-05-2011: Certain information from the registration dossiers that is contained in the Safety Data Sheet, including the names of registrants, will be published on the ECHA dissemination web section in the future. Companies will be able to keep this information confidential, provided that a valid justification is given and accepted by ECHA.

This extension of ECHA’s dissemination practice follows a legal interpretation by the European Commission Services and the advice of its Management Board. The opinion of the Commission Services states that in particular the name of a registrant is part of the information to be disseminated by the Agency, as it is contained in the Safety Data Sheet.

Registrants of hazardous substances can claim confidentiality to protect their commercial interests, provided they give a valid justification and pay the corresponding fee. ECHA will then assess the confidentiality claims. The names of registrants of non-hazardous substances will be published on a voluntary basis.

In addition to the registrant’s name, ECHA will also make further elements contained in the Safety Data Sheet publicly available such as the REACH registration number and whether the substance meets the criteria for PBT or vPvB.

This extension of the information to be published requires significant technical revisions to IUCLID and REACH-IT. Therefore, the dissemination of the additional information cannot be released in the immediate future. Moreover, registrants need to be given adequate time to adjust to the changes and add confidentiality claims to their dossiers if appropriate.

Detailed information on how this information will be published and how confidentiality can be claimed will be made available in due course.

ECHA has already made a large amount of information on thousands of registered substances freely accessible on its dissemination web section. This includes information from registration dossiers for 95% of all phase-in substances registered by the 2010 deadline.