ECHA has released updated recommendations that will support businesses in following REACH requirements and ensuring safe practises in the use of chemicals. These recommendations have a focus on avoiding animal testing and the use of read-across in particular, in line with one of the main principles of REACH which are to promote the use of alternative methods in order to reduce the number of tests on animals.

The latest recommendations for registrants from ECHA are based on what ECHA have learned through compliance checks of registration dossiers and incorporate the most recent modifications to the REACH information requirements. 

In particular, the “Adaptations” recommendations should be reviewed as ECHA has focussed their update on this area, including in regard to read-across. Read-across is a process via which information requirements are met using a source substance to predict the properties of a suitably similar target substance. ECHA’s advice covers how to determine if a substance is deemed suitably similar, for example considering the structural similarity and defining substance groups as well as predicting target properties. The information on adaptations also includes those that are based on exposure scenarios.

Updates to the advice to registrants also include clarification of requirements for mutagenicity and chronic aquatic toxicity studies for poorly soluble substances. 

ECHA has also provided some statistics on the compliance checks conducted to date – including for example that in 2022, of the 330 compliance checks conducted, 227 draft decisions were sent to companies.

ECHA’s updated recommendation for registrations can be found here.

Blue Frog Scientific would recommend that companies should review the recommendations to ensure their dossiers are compliant – if you require any assistance on this matter please get in touch.