Regulatory Newsletter – February 2023
Ricardo Chemical Solutions
Your partner for premium chemical emergency response, chemical regulatory compliance and sustainability services.
Six simple steps you should be taking right now to prepare for ECHA's restriction proposal on PFAS
PFAS are extremely stable chemicals that remain in the environment for many decades after release. They?are recognised as a significant environmental and public health challenge.?Over 4,700 PFAS are listed in the OECD global PFAS database and more recent estimates show that there are over 10,000 PFAS.??
We recently helped a business who were unaware that they had PFAS in their substance portfolio but after being questioned by their insurers contacted NCEC for support. Our regulatory experts were quickly able to help and identified six substances which met the definition of PFAS.?Here is how NCEC can help your business identify and transition away from PFAS use.
The manufacture, use and supply of some PFAS are already restricted under REACH, the?most recent of which is the EU-wide restriction of C9-C14 perfluorocarboxylic acids – a subgroup of PFAS. The ban begins on 25 February.
The Chemical Strategy for Sustainability made a clear commitment to phase out all PFAS use in the EU. A proposal for a ‘universal restriction’ on all PFAS has been prepared by five EU Member State authorities and the restriction dossier has been published by ECHA. ECHA's scientific committees will now evaluate the proposal.
We expect that producers and users of PFAS will need to reformulate products and modify processes in response to tighter regulation and customer demand for safer, more sustainable chemistries.?We?are currently analysing the proposal documents and annexes and will release more on what this proposed restriction means. We will also be sharing more information on PFAS in general and why the chemical industry needs to take urgent action to phase out these substances. In the meantime, we recommend that you take these?six simple steps to prepare for this restriction proposal and future proof your supply chain.
Meet our expert – Dr?Emma Pemberton, Principal Environmental Chemist/Ecotoxicologist and our PFAS expert
Emma has over 23 years' experience in?environmental chemistry and ecotoxicology. She is currently working across Ricardo?in a variety of projects, including evaluation of risks to drinking water from persistent, mobile and toxic chemicals and organo-phosphate flame retardants; gap analysis of pesticide legislation; and evaluation of data used for PBT/vPvB assessment under REACH. Our customers appreciate her depth of knowledge and expertise related to environmental chemistry along with how beneficial they find having Emma as part of their regulatory team!
Before joining Ricardo, Emma was the evidence acquisition lead for the Environment Agency’s PFAS working group, developing a cross-business evidence plan for PFAS that identified and prioritised evidence gaps and research needs. She was also an active member of the Water Framework Directive UK Technical Advisory Group (TAG) Chemistry Task team between 2015 and 2021.
Update your REACH dossiers urgently!
Our recent webinar poll?showed that?46% of?business had not updated their REACH dossiers in the last year or were not even aware of the requirement to do so!
Keeping your registration dossiers up to date is a legal obligation under REACH. Compliance checks are going to increase from 5% to 20% in each tonnage band, representing 30% of all registered chemicals.?Watch our free REACH dossier compliance webinar
By 2027, ECHA aims to have screened all registration dossiers submitted by the 2018 deadline.?If ECHA finds a compliance failure, it could lead to problems with your REACH registration and subsequent market access.
For those of you who are Cefic members and have signed up?to the Cefic action plan, please note that Cefic does not have access to registration dossiers and all updates need to be done by individual businesses. If you are a Cefic member?and have signed up to the action plan, please?contact us?urgently so we can help you to update your dossiers.
NCEC experts will review your dossier to identify and fill data gaps, strengthen justifications for adaptations, and confirm that all appropriate information has been gathered, to reduce the likelihood of ECHA requesting further information. You can find all our services?here.
Poison centre – industrial use?deadline and harmonised?submissions
As you must already be aware, deadlines for customer and professional use products have passed, and the remaining poison centre notification deadlines are as follows:
Don't forget that a revision to the CLP regulation which will introduce new hazard classes for endocrine disruptors and other harmful chemicals is expected to enter into force in 2023. Where these new classifications apply you will need to update your poison centre notifications along with your SDSs, labels and REACH dossiers.?Read more on this upcoming change.?
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We will soon be hosting a free webinar to discuss the poison centre deadlines and how you can maintain your compliance, so please do keep an eye out on our Linkedin page for registration updates.
Potential change to EU regulations regarding titanium dioxide
The EU Court of Justice has annulled the Commission ruling on Regulation (EU) 2020/217 amending Regulation (EC) 1272/2008 on the classification, labelling and packaging of substances and mixtures that classified titanium dioxide as a carcinogenic substance and required it to?have a minimum classification of a Category 2 Carcinogen (H351).
This decision has not been fully implemented and is currently in a period of appeal.?If finalised, this could impact your SDSs and poison centre notifications for materials containing titanium dioxide.?We can support you to update your SDSs and poison centre notifications to reflect the potential change in regulation once a decision has been finalised.?
For now, we recommend that you identify all your mixtures that include titanium dioxide to determine where there may be an impact. Our?horizon scanning tool?can help you to do this.?In this instance, it would perform a substance inventory check and?highlight all your products that contain titanium dioxide that would be impacted by this regulation change, once it has been finalised.?The results are provided in a clear, easy-to-read report.?Download a sample report here.
ECHA have started safety data sheet compliance checks
As part of their EU-wide enforcement project (REF-11), Member State?national authorities have started to check compliance of SDSs against Annex ll of REACH Regulation.?Read our full update here.
The main objective is to assess whether duty holders have updated and provided SDSs that meet the new requirements.?Read a breakdown of all the changes here.
Are there any costs of non-compliance?
The deadline to update your EU SDSs as per the new REACH Annex II requirements was 31 December 2022.?In addition to non-compliance fines, outdated EU SDSs are likely to cause significant supply chain issues to businesses.?
For example, NCEC was informed that a Belgian port would not unload products that were non-compliant with REACH Annex II. The port made it clear that there would be no flexibility and the?deadline for compliance would be rigidly observed.
If you have not updated your SDSs, we strongly urge you to do so as soon as possible.?We have a team of trusted SDS experts, who already support a wide range of clients with their compliance issues, as well as SDS training courses for those authoring in-house. You can find more information on our dedicated?SDS webpage?or contact us [email protected].
Dangerous Goods Emergency Action Code List 2023 is now available
We are proud to have once again produced the Dangerous Goods Emergency Action Code (EAC) List 2023, in co-operation with the UK Home Office and published by TSO.
A digital copy, along with a summary of all the changes implemented, can be accessed?here. A physical copy can be purchased from TSO?here.
The EAC List 2023 is effective immediately in connection with the use of ADR/RID 2023 Edition, and will be mandatory from 1 July 2023 when the EAC List 2021 should no longer be used.
Our experts run a Dangerous Goods Awareness training course that provides general hazard awareness along with function specific training. This course benefits all personnel working with or transporting hazardous goods. You can find out more about the course?here.
To speak to a member of our team about how we can assist you?with regulatory compliance,?emergency response or sustainability, please?email us at [email protected]?or visit our?website.