Paints and coatings companies are being asked by the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) to step forward and lead safety assessments of coatings ingredients in a current second registration process under European Union (EU) chemical control system REACH. ECHA is concerned that around 700 of the substances industry surveys had shown EU companies wanted to register this year have not been registered. And no company has said it will co-ordinate the safety checks required for their registration.
Unregistered chemicals cannot be used in manufacturing within the EU or in imported products, where they are manufactured or imported in annual volumes of 100 tonnes or more after the May 31 registration deadline.
ECHA has now released a list of substances where it has “so far neither received a lead registrant nomination [to co-ordinate an assessment] nor a registration…” They include coating ingredients such as aluminium silicate; iron oxide black; calcium silicide; silane, dichlorodimethyl- reaction products with silica; and more.
It also includes nine polymer-related substances - among them Oxirane, methyl- polymer with oxirane, ether with 2-ethyl-2-(hydroxymethyl)-1,3-propanediol (3:1), 2-propenoate; and Formaldehyde, polymer with benzenamine, Hydrogenated. And they include turpentine, petroleum resins and paraffin waxes.
These materials were also not registered in the last REACH registration process – for those used or imported in annual quantities exceeding 1000 tonnes.|
An ECHA note said: “Downstream users and potential registrants are strongly encouraged to check this list to ensure that their substances manufactured or imported at or above 100 tonnes a year will be registered on time.
Substances on the list that will not be registered may unexpectedly disappear from the market.”
For the full list, please see http://echa.europa.eu/documents/10162/13632/intentions_2013_no_lr_en.pdf
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Meanwhile the agency has also accepted the results of a European Commission review of REACH, which has concluded the registration process needs reform.
The review conclusions were generally positive, saying REACH “functions well and delivers on all the objectives”, but in a separate note ECHA said: “While the registration has been successful, ECHA agrees with the Commission's findings that the quality of registration dossiers still needs to improve.” It and the Commission also admitted to bureaucratic delays in listing substances of very high concern (SVHCs). And while this process had “already increased the substitution of the most hazardous substances in the supply chain”, delays could only be remedied by “an ambitious roadmap for identifying and addressing all relevant SVHCs by 2020”, said ECHA.
