SVHC Roadmap 2020: a comprehensive analysis of its achievements

The roadmap, set up to identify and include all relevant Substances of Very High Concern (SVHCs) in the Candidate List by 2020, has just published an analysis of its main achievements and extended aims

In 2013 the European Chemicals Agency ECHA joined forces with Members State authorities and the European Commission to create the SVHC Roadmap 2020. Its objective? To identify substances of very high concern (SVHCs) and put measures in place to manage their risks..

The substances targeted were those that have been registered for uses within the scope of authorisation under REACH, prioritising the ones that are used by consumers and professionals directly, or those with non-intermediate industrial uses in the EU. In this stage, the study has focused on substances that have been classified as being carcinogenic, mutagenic or toxic to reproduction (CMRs), persistent, bioacumulative (PBTs/vPvBs) or endocrine disruptors (EDCs).

The main goal of the roadmap materialized in the promise of having all relevant SVHCs identified and included on the Candidate List by 2020, and for this purpose the ECHA developed the Regulatory Management Option Analysis RMOA, a new system to screen registered substances that allowed them to decide whether regulatory actions are needed and to find out the most appropriate ways to manage their risks.

After seven years of work, the ECHA has just published their results, focusing on the Roadmap´s main achievements and on what they expect from the project in the medium term future.

Seven years of work, six essential improvements

• 1. All relevant, currently known SVHCs have been identified: by 2017, all SVHCs were included in the Candidate List for authorisation, identified for other regulatory risk management measures or considered not to require further regulations. By the end of 2020, 211 substances or groups of substances have been included in the list, and it is expected to include more with other non identified candidates that are undergoing substance or dossier evaluations.
• 2. Implementation of RMOAthe new screening and regulatory management option analysis has proven to be a really efficient process to identify and address new substances of concern. By the end of 2020, about 220 substances had been analyzed under the parameters of the RMOAs, and around 80% of them were proposed for regulatory action.
• 3. Implementation of the grouping of chemical related substances to expedite the identification of chemicals that requires regulatory actions.
• 4. Developing a new approach to prioritise and address petroleum and coal stream substances.
• 5. The Expert Group on ECDs. It was established under the roadmap and joined forces with the Expert Group for Persistent, Bioacumulative and Toxic substances (PBT Expert Group) to provide with highly specialized scientific advice on endocrine disrupting substances.
• 6. New public activities coordination tool PACT, a new tool designed to increase transparency and predictability of authorities work on substances of high concern undergoing REACH and CLP processes. It is a way to collaborate with stakeholders, that now have an insight on planned or ongoing activities in the areas related to the Roadmap´s work that have a direct impact on their business.

What 's next?

The work boosted by the Roadmap 2020 is now an essential part of the ECHA´s Integrated Regulatory Strategy, that has set its next goal for 2027: to conclude on all registered substances whether they are high or currently low priority for EU regulatory risk.

At SIAM we follow the progress of this process with special interest, adding any information about SVHCs to our safety data sheet software, Chemeter, to generate updated SDS according to the latest developments in this matter.