Tech Watch: New update of Candidate List of Substances of Very High Concern

On 10 June 2022, the ECHA (European Chemicals Agency) released the new Candidate List of SVHCs. With the addition of 1 new substance, the current list of SVHCs now contains 224 substances.

The last substance added is as follows:

It is mostly used in polymers and when manufacturing other chemicals, textiles, leather or fur, paints and coatings.

Legal obligations for companies related to SVHC substances:

• Suppliers have to give their customers and consumers enough information to allow safe use of their articles if they contain a substance of very high concern (SVHC) above a concentration of 0.1 % (weight by weight)
• Importers and producers of articles will have to notify ECHA if their article contains SVHC substances above a concentration of 0.1% weight by weight (w/w) and the substance is present in those articles in quantities totalling over 1 tonne per producer or per importer per year. The notifications have to be submitted within six months from the date it has been included in the list.
• Suppliers of substances on the Candidate List, supplied either on their own or in mixtures, have to provide their customers with a safety data sheet.
• Under the Waste Framework Directive (Directive 2008/98/EC on waste- WFD), any supplier of an article containing a substance of very high concern (SVHC) in a concentration above 0.1% weight by weight (w/w) on the EU market is required to submit a SCIP Notification on that article to ECHA, as from 5 January 2021. SCIP is the database for information on Substances of Concern in articles, as such or in complex objects (products), established under the WFD. The SCIP database complements the existing notification obligations for Candidate List substances in articles under REACH and its communication through the supply chain, according to Articles 7 (2) and 33 respectively.

Click here for getting the official List from ECHA’s website.