Echa Issues REACH Dossier 'Best Practice' Document for Nanoforms

Echa has published nanomaterials guidance in the form of two documents, and updates to three existing documents.

The guidance aims to help companies dealing with the substances understand how to comply with EU chemicals legislation.

The new document on ‘how to prepare registration dossiers that cover nanoforms’ takes the form of an advisory best practice document rather than the usual guidance because of a recent Board of Appeal decision, concerning the provision of information on the nanoforms of a substance in its registration dossier. The case ended with the BoA ruling that Echa cannot demand such information on the grounds that the dossier fails to provide enough information on substance identity.

And importantly, it has been published before the European Commission has issued its proposal for changing the REACH Regulation’s information provision annexes to take account of nanoforms. The agency had hoped they would be updated in time for registration dossier preparation for the 2018 deadline, but the Commission has yet to publish any proposals.

In March, Echa, member states and NGOs criticised the European Commission's handling of discussions on revision of the REACH annexes at an EU meeting on nanomaterials. They said that the Commission’s discussion document did not incorporate the comments they made at a previous meeting, held a year earlier.

The Commission said that it would launch a public consultation on the review of the definition of a nanomaterial within a month.

It had said, at the previous meeting, that its preferred option for improving transparency on nanomaterials was a public website listing existing information, rather than an EU register.

It had also confirmed that changes to the REACH annexes, to account for substances with nanoforms, would not be made in time to affect registrations for the 2018 deadline.