Substance evaluation under REACH: The annual update of the CoRAP published
ECHA foresees to have on average 50 substance evaluations carried out per year through this and the future CoRAP updates. This seems realistic with a view of the capacity of the Member States for the evaluation work and responds to current regulatory needs for triggering the substance evaluation process.Substance evaluation is the process under REACH that allows for clarification of suspected risks. Following the evaluation, further information may be requested from the registrants or from the downstream users of the substances when additional data is considered necessary to clarify the suspected risk.
In the CoRAP update, justification documents are provided to briefly explain the grounds for the initial concerns for each substance in 2013-2015. In many cases, the concerns are related to potential persistency, bioaccumulation and toxicity, endocrine disruption, or carcinogenicity, mutagenicity and toxicity to reproduction, in combination with wide dispersive or consumer use. In general, the use of these substances covers various areas and does not focus on any particular industrial, professional or consumer uses.
The CoRAP update indicates the Member State which is responsible for the evaluation of each substance. The contact information of the Member State competent authorities have also been provided for each substance to facilitate interaction between the registrants and the evaluating Member State. ECHA encourages the Member States and registrants to communicate with each other in order to clarify any concerns related to the substances. This applies to all substances, but in particular for the substances that are evaluated first, i.e. during 2013.
From the publication of the CoRAP update, the respective Member States have one year to evaluate substances specified for 2013 and, where justified, to prepare a draft decision requesting the registrants to submit further information to clarify any possible risk. The decision will be taken by ECHA after consultation of the Member State competent authorities and the MSC, or by the European Commission if there is no unanimity at the MSC. As for other evaluation decisions, registrants of the substances listed on the CoRAP will have opportunities to comment before any final decision is taken.
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