Echa publishes REACH data on 15,000 chemicals

Echa has published information on approximately 15,000 substances registered under REACH.

The information, which comes from manufacturers and importers, includes details of each substance’s properties and its impacts on human health and the environment.

Regulatory authorities, businesses and researchers can use the data to improve safe use of chemicals, help reduce animal testing and boost innovation, the agency says.

Members of the public can also access and download data, it says, but because it is structured in an Iuclid 6 database, they might not find it easy to follow. Instead, it recommends they use the ‘information on chemicals’ portal on Echa’s website.

Echa says to respect the ownership rights of registrants, only select data can be downloaded. This is limited to:

• • results from studies conducted by companies, but not the full summary; and

• • information that is not claimed as confidential in the registration dossier.

Echa says that 2% of all dossiers have a confidentiality claim, but this does not mean that the entire dossiers are not published – only those limited elements that are claimed are not published.

In the agency's press release, Cefic director general Marco Mensink says it is important that Echa has published the REACH registration data “without jeopardising data ownership”.

With the available data, he says, a better understanding of toxicology can be developed “which will help to further reduce animal testing. It is a win-win for all stakeholders”.

Echa executive director Geert Dancet says making the data downloadable, in a format that can be reused by others, is “another step towards safer chemicals in Europe”.

Industry can use the data to improve the way in which it uses chemicals – by enhancing safety data sheets and the classification and labelling of substances and products, Echa says.

The press release also quotes Jerker Ligthart of NGO ChemSec as saying such information is a step towards chemical transparency which "will allow for better in-depth analysis of groups of chemicals instead of the substance-by-substance approach”.

He adds that making the data public could mean “faster and earlier” identification of substances of concern which companies can substitute, and will also help companies make better informed decisions during product development.

Registered users can download the data and the Iuclid 6 application from the Iuclid website, free of charge. The same set of data is used to provide input to the OECD’s eChemPortal, Qsar Toolbox and Cefic’s AMBIT project.