It’s now possible to access data from the EU’s first public database of substances of very high concern in products, or SCIP. The aim is to help consumers make more informed purchasing choices and help waste operators further develop the re-use of articles and the recycling of materials.
Around 6000 companies from across the EU have so far complied with this new duty to notify ECHA – the European Chemicals Agency – about products containing substances of very high concern, SVHCs. The SCIP database now includes more than four million article notifications.
Based on the information submitted so far, the most commonly 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.
The most common substances of very high concern in 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)
You can search the data by article name or brand, product category, type of material or the chemical name. The data will help consumers make informed choices by checking whether a product contains hazardous chemicals and reading its safe use instructions. Waste operators can use the data to increase the reuse of articles and further develop recycling processes.
ECHA’s Executive Director, Bjorn Hansen said the launch improves access to information on hazardous chemicals in articles on the EU market. “It will help to track products containing substances of very high concern until they reach the waste stage, supporting the goals of a circular economy. We encourage everyone to get familiar with the database and use it.”
Virginijus Sinkevičius, EU Commissioner for Environment, Oceans and Fisheries, said: “The launch of the database is a true milestone in bringing transparency about chemicals of concern in products. This wealth of information will be of great value to all, especially consumers, waste operators, and policy-makers. It will enhance the delivery of safe and clean products and secondary materials, fully in line with the priorities on re-use and recycling defined in the EU waste legislation. Thanks to all the companies that promptly submitted information, making the database work. This is a key step in implementing deliverables of the European Green Deal, notably our action plans on circular economy and zero pollution, and our Chemicals Strategy for Sustainability.”
All companies placing articles containing substances of very high concern on the EU market have to notify them to the database. To help companies with this duty, ECHA has developed several guidance documents and tools.
Background
Companies supplying articles that contain substances of very high concern, SVHCs, on the REACH Candidate List have to notify ECHA. The requirement concerns articles on the EU market that contain more than 0.1% weight by weight of SVHCs. The obligation came into force on 5 January 2021 and is based on the EU Waste Framework Directive as revised in 2018.
The notifications are stored in the Substances of Concern in Products (SCIP) database, which ensures that the information is publicly available throughout the whole lifecycle of products and materials, including the waste stage.
SCIP provides all the technical data from companies allowing the safe use and improved re-use and recycling of the article. This includes: information to identify the article, instructions on how to use it safely, the substance of very high concern, its location, and the type of material in which it is contained.
At the moment, the database contains over four million article notifications. This number counts duplicate notifications for the same article that were made by several actors in the EU supply chains, as well as notifications made for more than one article. Therefore, ECHA does not have an estimation for the exact number of different articles in the database.
