ECHA Management Board elects new deputy Chair

28-Jun-2011 - Finland

In its meeting of 21-22 June the ECHA’s Management Board elected a new Deputy-Chair, Mr Martin Lynch. Other highlights were the selection criteria for stakeholder organisations, the adoption of the Agency’s multi-annual work programme for 2012-14 and the difficulties to get resources from the 2012 budget.

Mr Martin Lynch from Ireland, was elected as Deputy-Chair of the Board for the next two years. The term of the current Deputy-Chair, Italian Board member Antonello Lapalorcia, ends at the end of June. The Management Board is chaired by Dr Thomas Jakl from Austria.

In the future all Accredited Stakeholders wishing to participate in ECHA’s Committee or Forum meetings need to sign up in the Register of Interest Representatives, maintained by the European Commission. An additional change is that organisations representing sectors and interest groups that do not have members in all, or the majority, of the EU member states are now eligible under certain conditions. The revised criteria also state that the Accredited Stakeholders are expected to be non-profit making and non-representative of individual companies.

According to ECHA’s multi-annual work programme, the Agency will for the first time operate in all areas of its enlarged responsibilities in 2012-14. The planned activities cover registration, evaluation, authorisation, restriction, classification and labelling and also tasks related to new biocides and PIC (prior informed consent) regulations. These are currently under consideration by the legislator. The programme also introduces ECHA’s revised mission, vision and values statements

The work programme had been in public consultation during March-May 2011 and it will soon be available on the Agency’s website.

The Board also discussed the budgetary situation for 2012. To be able to manage the growing REACH workload, mainly on substance evaluation and authorisation, the Management Board had requested in March 2011 for 20 new posts. These would be financed from fee income. The Commission also provisionally earmarked some subsidies and posts for biocides and PIC, but the final numbers depend on the final scope of these new regulations. The Board was informed of the status of budgetary procedure where sufficient resources are not yet assured.

https://www.chemeurope.com/en/news/133224/echa-management-board-elects-new-deputy-chair.html