Presentations are now available
On September 22nd, the Benelux Technical Seminar took place at Alta Ripa II in Oud-Turnhout. The overall theme of the seminar was how to deal with the new challenges ahead on CO2 reductions and energy availability. Our speakers gave a great overview from all different angles from our industry : from additives to biofules, from existing energy sources to alternative sources. On the activites page, you can find the presentations.
According to ECHA, around 86% of 400 REACH intermediates dossiers examined so far have failed to meet the requirements set down by the Regulation. Under REACH, the information that companies need to provide for certain types of isolated intermediates may be reduced compared to requirements for other substances provided that the use of the substance fulfils the following two conditions: 1 - the use of the substance meets the definition of an intermediate as described in REACH Article 3(15) and further explained in the Guidance on intermediates; and 2 - the substance is manufactured and/or used under strictly controlled conditions. ECHA has stressed that in order to demonstrate that a substances use fulfils the criteria of an isolated intermediate, a registrant should provide information on the identity of the transformation products resulting from the use of the substance and/or information on the manufacturing processes related to the registered substances. After the screening exercise, ECHA has concluded that most of the dossiers do not meet the conditions that would justify benefiting from reduced information requirements . As a result, ECHA has already communicated with registrants of a number of intermediate dossiers on missing or doubtful information, inviting them to update the dossiers. Furthermore, ECHA has called on companies to proactively re-examine and update their registration dossiers whenever required. For further information, please go to ECHAs Guidance on intermediates by clicking on the link below.
ECHA is set to publish information regarding the registration dossiers that is contained in the Safety Data Sheet in ECHAs dissemination website in the future. The information include: registrants name, REACH registration number and whether the substance meets the criteria for PBT or vPvB. However, due to inherent technical revisions to ECHAs IT systems (IUCLID and REACH-IT) linked to the process of disseminating the additional information, cannot be released in the immediate future. ECHA has already made a large amount of information on thousands of registered substances freely accessible on its dissemination web section. This includes information from registration dossiers for 95% of all phase-in substances registered by the 2010 deadline. Please note that registrants of hazardous substances can claim confidentiality to protect their commercial interests, provided they give a valid justification and pay the corresponding fee. ECHA will then assess the confidentiality claims. The names of registrants of non-hazardous substances will be published on a voluntary basis. For further information, please visit the ECHA disseminations pages by clicking on the link below.
The Council has agreed to the updated criteria for awarding the EU Ecolabel to lubricants. This means that now that the Council has given its consent, the Commission may adopt this criteria, unless the European Parliament objects. Click on the link below to view the criteria.