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News & Events News Archive Eurostat publishes 2007 REACH baseline study Eurostat publishes 2007 REACH baseline study
The European Commission has published its REACH baseline study, which is designed to monitor the success of REACH in reducing risks from chemical exposure across the EU. The baseline aims to produce a meaningful index to balance the need for an in-depth assessment with the requirement for transparency for non-experts in assessing the success of the Directive.
The study aims to create a ‘plausible risk profile’ through 3 distinct pillars:
- Administrative indicators
- Risk and quality system
- Supplementary indicators
Administrative indicators are used to monitor the REACH process. They therefore take into consideration the numbers of registrations, evaluations, authorisations and restriction dossiers produced.
The risk and quality system is used to assess 237 randomly selected chemicals in order to produce a geometric mean figure. Of these substances, 22 are SVHCs (substances of very high concern), along with 65 high, 45 medium and 105 low production volume chemicals. For each one, risk ratings are assigned according to risks to workers, consumers, the environment and humans via the environment. To enable comparison, Eurostat provides scores for 6 reference substances, namely chlorine, dibutylether (DBE), ethyl acetoacetate, benzene, butadiene and aniline. A quality score is also assigned to ensure that the level of uncertainty is also taken into account.
Finally, eleven supplementary indicators that address specific REACH objectives are also considered. Examples include the quality of safety data sheets, the production of toxic chemicals and the level of occupational skin diseases.
Analysis of the data produced though this process suggests that whilst SVHCs generally have a much higher risk rating, the quality of information available on them is much better. A detailed analysis of the data according to risks to workers, consumers, the environment and humans via the environment is provided in the Eurostat document, available at: http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/cache/ITY_OFFPUB/KS-RA-09-003/EN/KS-RA-09-003-EN.PDF
The system enables comparison between the different production volume bands, whilst the main aim will be to measure performance against the 2007 baseline. The first of these reviews is expected to take place in 2012-13.
