Access to EU’s First Public Database for SVHCs Now Available

The European Chemical Agency (ECHA) announced the SCIP Database in September 2021; this is a public database for Substances of Very High Concern (SVHC) in EU products. SCIP database is aimed at helping consumers make informed purchasing choices and waste operators develop procedures for reuse and recycling of articles and materials respectively. 

About 6,000 companies in the EU have notified ECHA about their products that have SVHCs, therefore, the SCIP database has more than four million article notifications which can now be accessed by the public. 

According to ECHA, the most notified product categories in the database are: 

• machinery and their parts 

• measuring instruments and their parts 

• electronic equipment and their parts 

• vehicles and their parts 

• articles made of rubber; and 

• furniture. 

And the most common SVHCs in these notifications are: 

• lead (e.g. in ball bearings, batteries); 

• lead monoxide (e.g. in lamps, vehicle parts); 

• lead titanium trioxide (e.g. in electric cookers); 

• silicid acid, lead salt (e.g. in lead crystalware, vehicle coatings); and 

• 1,6,7,8,9,14,15,16,17,17,18,18-Dodecachloropentacyclo[12.2.1.16,9.02,13.05,10]octadeca-7,15- diene, more commonly referred to as “Dechlorane PlusTM” (e.g. in paints, glues) 

In the database, you can easily search for data either by the name or brand of the article, type of material, product category, or by the chemical name. Through the database, you can get accurate information on products; if they are hazardous and their safe use instructions. 

Do you place articles that contain SVHCs in the EU market? If yes, have you notified these substances to the database? If no, you must do the notifications. Check ECHA for guidance documents and tools for this process. 

As it started on January 5, 2021, notifying ECHA applies to companies that supply articles containing substances of very high concern (SVHCs) on the REACH candidate list. This obligation concerns articles in the EU market that contains more than 0.1% weight by weight of SVHCs.  

Last Update: 2021-10-20