European authorities will work together to improve risk management of chemicals

ECHA/NR/24/07

ECHA’s two-day workshop discussed how to make authorities’ risk management of substances, or substance groups, more impactful while increasing transparency and predictability. 

Helsinki, 19 March 2024 – The workshop focused on reviewing the implementation of ECHA’s Integrated Regulatory Strategy (IRS) and aligning it with the Agency’s new strategy. Future priorities and ECHA’s new tasks were also discussed. 

The aim of the event was to:

• find a common understanding on the optimal approaches for selection and prioritisation of groups of substances for regulatory work over the next few years; and
• identify possibilities to further improve coordination and cooperation between ECHA, the European Commission and the EU Member States to increase transparency and predictability of the work and support a more strategic approach for regulatory risk management.

The workshop concluded on the key successes in the implementation of the IRS so far. ECHA has obtained a good understanding of the high-tonne substances on the EU market and screened a significant number of lower tonne substances. The Agency has also identified many substances potentially needing regulatory risk management, for example, those included in the Restrictions Roadmap. And by identifying substances to go to compliance check, ECHA has been able to get more hazard data needed for subsequent regulatory actions. 

The workshop supported the shift of authorities’ focus to improving and building cases for regulatory risk management. Coordinated effort from authorities is needed to synchronise actions and maximise outputs. ECHA’s grouping work and assessment of regulatory needs are good starting points. Further integration of other policy areas relevant for chemicals management (e.g. batteries) as well as the interlinks with the One Substance, One Assessment initiatives need to be considered when moving forward. 

Ofelia Bercaru, ECHA’s Director for Prioritisation and Integration, said:

“This workshop gave us direction in prioritisation of chemicals and integrating regulatory actions to manage their risks. These discussions, together with ECHA’s new strategy, will facilitate more consistent regulatory actions and will maximise the impact of our work.

“We appreciate the participants’ commitment to collaborating with us and other authorities for taking timely and optimal risk management actions on chemicals.”

Background

The workshop took place at ECHA in Helsinki from 6-7 March 2024. The participants were drawn from European Economic Area Member States, the European Commission, ECHA’s key stakeholders and ECHA.

Press contact: Mikko Väänänen, press@echa.europa.eu, +358 40 520 3513