ECHA announces changes to completeness checks of REACH registrations.

On 23 January 2023 the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) announced that they will start checking both new registrations and updates to existing registrations of chemicals under REACH against revised requirements recently amended by the European Commission. The amended checks will take effect on 1 May 2023. Since the checks will apply to both new and existing registrations, registrants should prepare for the changes because existing registrations may no longer pass the completeness check.

The changes to the completeness checks concern the following areas:

• Substance identity: ensuring correct and consistent identification of a substance’s boundary composition and its constituents and additives based on clarifications made to Annex VI.
• Standard information requirements based on Annexes VII-XI: supporting registrants in reporting information for endpoints concerning mutagenicity, degradation and aquatic toxicity based on Annex VII-XI information requirements. Registrants adding a new weight-of-evidence adaptation will be prompted to provide arguments for the approach in a more structured format.

Registrants are encouraged to use the IUCLID validation assistant to check their registrations before submitting them to ECHA. The new version of IUCLID which will be released at the end of April 2023 will include the amended completeness check rules.