~dREACH Update
~tREACH-IT and helpdesk availability at end of year
~w2009-11-23
The European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) will use the Christmas break for a major upgrading of the REACH-IT submissionsystem, which will be closed from the lunchtime of 14 December 2009 to 3 January2010 inclusive. The Helpdesk and ECHA’s offices will be closed from 24 December to 3January inclusive. By lunchtime of 4 January 2010, REACH-IT will re-open and beavailable for submissions 24 hours a day during the working week – from 8.00 Mondayuntil 19.00 Friday. Dossier submission via REACH-IT needs to be temporarily suspended over the Christmasbreak to allow ECHA to migrate to a new version of the REACH-IT software. In addition, a similarsuspension was executed last year. This new version is an essential part of the ongoingprogramme to enhance the performance of the software to sustain the extraordinary volumeof registrations expected in 2010. These changes will ‘pave the way’ for further releases ofREACH-IT during Q1 2010 which will provide new industry functionalities, including the‘Legal entity change’ module and C&L bulk notification submission module. As this new software involves a significant change in REACH-IT technicalimplementation, a full migration of the entire REACH-IT database is required and dossiersubmissions need to be suspended. Before being able to perform the migration, allpreviously submitted dossiers must have been fully processed (ie. undergone the businessrule check, invoicing and technical completeness check). Therefore, dossier submission willbe closed from 13:00 EET on Monday 14 December so that ECHA can ensure that alldossiers are fully processed in order to allow the migration to be carried out.REACH-IT continues to be available until 18 December for companies to sign-up, search,view and retrieve information on pre-registrations and registrations and to claim theregistration numbers for “new” substances they notified before 1 June 2008 under theprevious legislation. Migration will start on 21 December, which requires a full closure of allREACH-IT functionalities.
Timeline:
- 14 December 2009 – REACH-IT submission closes
REACH-IT will not accept any dossiers after 13:00 EET on 14 December 2009. REACH-ITwill remain available to industry to view and consult information.
- 18 December 2009 – REACH-IT shutdown
REACH-IT will be shut down completely at 19:00 EET on 18 December 2009 to carry out thefinal steps of the migration of its database to an updated version.
- 4 January 2010 – REACH-IT re-launched
REACH-IT will restart at 13:00 EET. Full functionality will be restored and companies maycontinue to submit inquiry, PPORD and registration dossiers.
ECHA, 20 November 2009
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~dREACH Update
~tOil sector develops use descriptors for petroleum products
~w2009-11-23
Concawe, the oil industry’s European association for health, safety and environment in refining and distribution, has published an initial map of identified uses of petroleum substances. According to a statement from the group, the identified uses will be assessed over the coming months to determine whether they can be supported in Concawe-developed registration dossiers. For substances requiring an exposure assessment, the organisation will incorporate the output, for example recommended risk management measures, into the registration dossiers.
Chemical Watch, 20 November 2009
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~dREACH Update
~tECHA calls for information to avoid unnecessary animal testing
~w2009-11-23
The European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) has requested information on the healtheffects of a specific chemical substance by 24 December 2009. This is a publicconsultation foreseen by the REACH Regulation for testing proposals involving animals. The aim of this information request is to provide anyone the opportunity to submit relevant datawith a view to make sure that animal testing is only conducted as a last resort whenthe available information is not sufficient to assess the potentially harmful effects ofthis chemical on human health or the environment. The chemical is a new substance with the name of “Polysulfo {5-hydroxy-1-naphthalen-2-yl-[4-[4-(2-sulfatoethyl-sulfonyl)-phenyl]diazenyl]-1H-pyrazole-3-carboxylic acid}, alkali metalsalt”. The registrant has, as permitted by the legislation, claimed certain details of thechemical confidential and so they cannot be made public. Based on the available data theregistrant has classified the substance as an irritant and skin sensitiser. The testing proposalfrom the registrant concerns information on genetic toxicity in vivo, i.e. an experimental testinvolving vertebrate laboratory animals.The testing proposal will be evaluated by ECHA over the coming months, together with anyinformation resulting from this call. On the basis of the evaluation ECHA will propose adecision to accept, amend or to reject the testing proposal.
ECHA, 19 November 2009
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~dREACH Update
~tMOE Promotes a Joint Project with the Chemical Industry to Gather
Information on Properties of Chemical Substances
~w2009-11-23
As international chemicals regulations has become stricter since the implementation of EU REACH, the Ministry of Environment in Korea has decided to conduct a joint project with the chemical industry to gather information on risk of HPV chemicals so that the industry can respond to REACH in a more efficient way. Under the new EU legislation, manufacturers and importers of chemical substances are required to go through the process regarding the chemical substances they dealt with. With the participation of five chemical companies, the project is conducted for four kinds of chemical substances among chemicals, which should be registered to REACH by 30 November 2010. The project aims to collect information on risk of the four kinds of chemicals and to complete their registration to REACH. In addition, a council of companies which need information on the same kinds of chemicals will be organised to jointly bear the expenses for collecting information and the government verifies the confidence of the information and supports companies in filling in registration form.The information collected by the project from participating companies will have a copyright and summarised information will be submitted to the Ministry of Environment so as to contribute to building infra of information on chemical substances.
Ministry of Environment Republic of Korea, 20 November 2009
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