Krogerus Chemicals Regulatory News, 26 September 2017

EU Commission's consultation on the definition of nanomaterial launched

The European Commission has launched a consultation on the revision of the nanomaterial definition. According to the currently applicable Recommendation (2011/696/EU), a substance is defined as nanomaterial if 50% or more of its particles, in one or more external dimensions, are in the size range 1 nm–100 nm.

The original 2011 definition has been criticised for being ambiguous and European Commission’s Joint Research Centre (JRC) proposed amendments to the definition already in its 2015 report. The definition is anticipated to be used as the basis in the forthcoming nano-specific regulation under the REACH Regulation as well as in the sector specific product legislation. The review of the definition is expected to take place early in 2018.

ECHA publishes analysis on first 100 REACH authorisation applications

The European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) has published a report on the socio-economic impacts of REACH authorisations based on the analysis of the first 100 applications for REACH authorisations.

The report finds that the risk management brought about by the authorisation system have reduced the exposure to harmful chemicals of workers and the population at large. The report also estimates the benefit of authorisations to outweigh the remaining monetised risks to human health and the environment by on average a factor of 15 to 1.

ECHA consults on new CLH proposals

A consultation on the harmonised classification and labelling proposals for seven substances is currently open.

The consultations pertain to the classification and labelling of the following substances: flupyradifurone, azoxystrobin, tetraglyme, dichlorodioctylstannane, lead, sodium hydroxymethyl glycinate and trimethylmethoxysilane. Comments to the consultations can be submitted by 30 October 2017.