59 sign up to CEFIC Action Plan

CEFIC has announced that, to date, 59 chemical producers in Europe have signed up to the Action Plan to re-evaluate their chemical safety data, which it launched in late June. This was described at the time as a voluntary, industry-wide initiative to help its members to “proactively and systematically review and improve data in previously submitted REACH registration dossiers”.

The multi-annual plan lays down a set of guiding principles that enable companies to decide whether their dossiers may need to be updated in line with the expectations of the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA). It describes the timeline, roles and responsibilities, substance prioritisation criteria and critical issues, as well as explaining how progress will be reported.

To support this, ECHA and CEFIC have signed a cooperation agreement and formed a joint steering committee to guide its implementation. This will, as a first step, launch a pilot project to review and improve selected dossiers, using the results to develop case studies and best practices for the use of alternative testing methods. CEFIC will monitor progress in reviewing REACH dossiers and publish annual status reports.