The Candidate List of substances of very high concern (SVHCs) for authorisation now contains 209 substances.

Helsinki, 25 June 2020 ECHA – The four candidate substances includes an endocrine-disrupting substance, that is used in consumer products, such as cosmetics. The three others are used in industrial processes to produce polymers, coating products and plastics, respectively.

See here the full details of the added substances.

Companies are urged to check their legal obligations relating to the safe use of their substance. From January 2021, companies will also have to notify products containing SVHCs to ECHA’s upcoming SCIP database on substances of concern in articles and products. The database aims to ensure transparent information on articles containing hazardous chemicals throughout their whole life-cycle.

Background

The Candidate List includes substances of very high concern that may have serious effects on our health or environment. These may be placed on the Authorisation List in the future, which means that industry would need to apply for permission to continue using them.

Companies may have legal obligations when their substance is included in the Candidate List – either on its own, in mixtures or in articles. Any supplier of articles containing a Candidate List substance above a concentration of 0.1 % weight by weight has to give sufficient information to their customers and consumers to allow safe use. As of January 2021, companies will also need to notify ECHA’s SCIP database if their articles contain Candidate List substances.

Importers and producers of articles containing a Candidate List substance also have six months from the date of its inclusion in the list (25 June 2020) to notify ECHA.

(Original text by ECHA)

While getting back into business after lifting nationwide lockdown aka social distancing, Vietnam has started to update their National Chemical Inventory.

The Ministry of Industry and Trade (MOIT) of Vietnam published the new drafted National Chemical Inventory (NCI) in March 2020. Originally established in September 2016, NCI currently includes 36,777 substances and is organised and maintained by Vietnam Chemical Agency (Vinachemia).

Vinachemia is now accepting additional chemical information to NCI portal and substance nomination can be submitted until 30th of May, 2020. Requirement is that substances which are submitted during this update must be currently imported by Vietnamese industry.

Following information should be provided related to the chemical substances:

• Name and CAS number of the substance
• Safety data sheet (SDS) in Vietnamese
• Documents proving that substance is used/marketed in Vietnam
  • Sales contract with Vietnamese importer, or
  • Sales invoice (financial figures concealed)
• Technical data of the substance for comparison and determination of the substance ID.
• Estimated annual tonnages of import to Vietnam

Substances not submitted by the deadline, according to the chemical management plan, will be treated as a new substance in Vietnam after Vinachemia has finalised the NCI. Therefore, we strongly recommend listing all relevant substances which you are currently selling to Vietnam in order to avoid any issues with the import at a later stage.

Chementors SEA Ltd. is our local branch in Vietnam (Ho Chi Minh City) and able to assist you to prepare all needed documents for adding your relevant substances to the NCI portal. Find our contact information here.

UFI is an acronym for Unique Formula Identifier. The UFI will primarily be used by poison centres in the event of an emergency call. For example, the UFI can be read directly from the label of a product to a poison centre operator in addition to the trade name to precisely identify the product involved in an incident.

The UFI code must either be printed or affixed to the label of all products containing hazardous mixtures. If the products are not labeled (this is the case with certain industrial products), the UFI identifier can be also found in the safety data sheet.

Importers and downstream users who place hazardous mixtures on the market must provide the poison centers with specific product information of the mixtures, including the UFI. You can find the UFI Generator and the user guide on ECHA’s Poison Centres website in 23 EU languages.

For mixtures not yet on the market, your obligations to submit harmonised information and place the UFI on the label will apply from:

• 1 Jan 2021 (consumer use)
• 1 Jan 2021 (professional use)
• 1 Jan 2024 (industrial use)

If you have existing mixtures already on the market, you may benefit from a transitional period which ends 1 Jan 2025. This means that after this date, all mixtures classified for health or physical effects will be required to bear the UFI on the label.

Companies have a lot to improve on reporting harmful substances in their products

The ECHA Enforcement Forum pilot project revealed shortcomings in the notification of SVHCs in their products.

Good news about the pilot project is the fact that only 12% of the products examined contained SVHCs. In contrast, 88% of companies whose products were found to contain SVHCs failed to comply with their reporting obligations.

The Enforcement project comprised nearly 700 articles, more than 400 companies, in 15 different EU countries. The focus was on industries whose products are most likely to contain harmful substances. The checked products included clothing, footwear and home textiles; wires, cables and electronic accessories; plastic or textile floorings; wall coverings; and other plastic and rubber products.

Head of the ECHA’s Support and Enforcement Unit, Erwin Annys said that “The report clearly shows a failure of communication in the supply chain and improvement is needed if we want to make REACH work in all aspects.”

The ECHA Secretariat and the Forum will further analyse the results from this enforcement project and the recommendations included in the Forum’s final report, and consider further actions that could improve the situation.

Original article by ECHA 

18 substances of very high concern (SVHCs) are recommended to be added to the REACH Authorisation List

Helsinki, 1 October 2019 – ECHA’s ninth recommendation to the European Commission to prioritise substances of very high concern for authorisation includes 18 substances. Thirteen of these substances are toxic for reproduction, of which one has also endocrine disrupting properties. The other substances are an endocrine disruptor, a carcinogen, a very persistent and very bioaccumulative (vPvB) substance and two respiratory sensitisers.

The substances have been prioritised from the Candidate List because of their intrinsic properties in combination with high volume and widespread uses, which may pose a threat to human health or the environment. Some of these substances are currently not used in the EU but could replace other substances recommended for the Authorisation List (Annex XIV). Their inclusion should avoid regrettable substitution.

Original article here.

With the new EU regulation, more than 200 substances or groups of substances were banned in cosmetic products. Cosmetics marketed in the EU and EEA countries must not contain these prohibited substances or must comply with restrictions on their use. Prohibited substances are carcinogenic, mutagenic or toxic to reproduction (CMR).

On 22 May 2019, the European Commission published a new Regulation (EU) 2019/831 which amended Annexes II, III and V of the Cosmetics Regulation and became applicable on 12 June 2019. Therefore, cosmetic products sold in Finland or elsewhere in the EU / EEA or marketed in Finland via the online store may no longer contain substances prohibited by the Regulation or the substances must comply with the restrictions on their use.

The EU Cosmetics Regulation bans the use of CMRs in cosmetics. Substances are classified as CMRs according to EU chemicals legislation *. The hazardous properties of a substance do not always pose a risk to health. CMRs can be used in cosmetics if the European Commission Scientific Committee, based on a risk assessment, concludes that the use is safe under certain conditions. The prohibition or restriction on the use of cosmetic products is implemented by amending the annexes to the EU Cosmetics Regulation (Commission Regulation (EU) 2019/831) by adding the names of banned or restricted substances in the annexes. The EU Cosmetics Regulation and its annexes are also directly applicable in Finland.

Find the full TUKES article here (In Finnish).

If you would like more information about the Brexit phases, you can also visit the European Chemicals Agency website – information is available here.

Helsinki, January 15, 2019

The Candidate List of substances of very high concern (SVHCs) for authorisation now contains 197 substances.

ECHA has added five new substances to the Candidate List due to the carcinogenic, toxic to reproduction, persistent, bioaccumulative and toxic (PBT) and very persistent and very bioaccumulative (vPvB) properties of the substances.

One further substance has also been added to the list having been identified as an SVHC by the European Commission due to its endocrine-disrupting properties. The Commission’s decision follows the referral of the MSC opinion on this SVHC proposal in 2016.

Read ECHA’s news article from here.

SVHC Candidate list can be found here.

The KemiDigi project (digital chemical data management) involves collecting information on chemicals in one place and simplifying companies’ obligations to submit information on chemicals. Among other things, companies can use the system to submit chemical notifications on the chemicals they have placed on the market and maintain the chemical lists they require for permits and monitoring etc. The chemical ratio calculator for determining the operating level of chemical plants (Act on the Safe Handling and Storage of Dangerous Chemicals and Explosives) will also be moved to KemiDigi in connection with the chemical lists. 

The KemiDigi pilot has ended for companies 

KemiDigi was piloted in two parts. During the summer, companies tested the submission of chemical notifications through KemiDigi. Testing of the list of chemicals was performed in October. Companies have given encouraging comments and useful feedback on the pilots. They have given constructive comments and development ideas for KemiDigi. 

Introduction of KemiDigi 

KemiDigi will be introduced in two parts in early 2019. The submission of chemical notifications will begin in February and the list of chemicals will become functional in April 2019. 

The collection of quantity information from chemical notifications for 2018 will not, on this occasion, be carried out at the beginning of March, but through KemiDigi at a time to be announced later. 

Due to the introduction of KemiDigi, the current e-mail submission of chemical notifications to the Chemical Product Register will end on 30 November 2018. After then, notifications can be submitted to 

KemiDigi in February 2019. Chemical notifications submitted by the end of November will be transferred from the old system to KemiDigi and all valid notifications will be available to companies. 

The list of chemicals held by Tukes for supervision in accordance with the Act on the Safe Handling and Storage of Dangerous Chemicals and Explosives will mainly be moved to KemiDigi in the early part of the year. In this way, they will form a basis for the chemicals list in KemiDigi, when economic operators log into KemiDigi for the first time. The exception is the list of chemicals that do not yet have classifications under the CLP regulation. 

Guidelines on KemiDigi and its use will be provided in a range of formats prior to the introduction of the application. Written guidelines, video clips and live events are forthcoming. 

Further information: 

KemiDigi: https://tukes.fi/kemidigi. Minna Valtavaara, Project Manager (minna.valtavaara(at)tukes.fi) 

Chemical Product Register: tuoterekisteri(at)tukes.fi 

Chementors Ltd had an honor to attend “We Love Finland” event in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam on Thursday October 18^th. The center of the event organized by Business Finland was the Minister of Economic Affairs of Finland Mika Lintilä with his delegation. In addition to Minister delegation, Business Finland had invited Finnish companies operating in Vietnam and their local partners to attend the event. The main story of the evening was breaking news from the EU Commission to present EU–Vietnam trade and investment agreements for signature and conclusion. To-be-ratified agreements will substantially strengthen the bind between the EU and Vietnam both in trade and investment maintaining the positive trend which Vietnamese economics and industry have enjoyed recent years. The trade agreement also includes a strong, legally binding commitment to sustainable development, including the respect of human rights, labor rights, environmental protection and the fight against climate change, with an explicit reference to the Paris Agreement.