Understanding REACH SVHC compliance.

SVHC stands for Substances of Very High Concern. These substances are always included in the SVHC candidate list and include endocrine disruptors, and carcinogenic substances. The substances are usually very harmful to the human health and the environment. In order for a substance to include in the SVHC candidate, list it must fulfil one or more of the criteria’s defined in the EU REACH regulations.

What is SVHC candidate list?

Candidate list substances are chemicals substances of very high concern for human health and environment that have fulfilled one or more of the criteria defined in EU REACH regulation. The list is updated by ECHA every 6months making it twice per year.

What is the purpose of the Candidate List?

The purpose of the candidate list is to ensure that manufacturers remove the SVHC substances from the market. The establishment of the candidate list was made as a part of the REACH regulation. This encourages manufacturers to substitute candidate list substances with other substances performing the same function but having less harm to both human health and environment.

The REACH SCIP online database.

REACH SCIP online database is a storage for candidate list built by European Chemical Agency (ECHA) to enhance the REACH SVHC reporting transparency for products in the European Union market. SCIP stands for Substance off Concern In Products.

The information contained in the SCIP database notification include:

• The name of the product containing one or more SVHC which is more than the declaration threshold.
• The category of the article containing SVHC(s).
• The name of the SVHC present in the product.
• The European article number (EAN).

REACH SVHC compliance.

Suppliers of articles or products containing SVHC on the candidate list whose threshold is above 0.1% must ensure to provide its end user with clear and sufficient information on how to use the article safely. Once the information is requested they must ensure that it reaches the users of their product within 45 days of the request. This is according to Enviropass REACH compliance regulation which states that a supplier is any actor present in the supply chain including Producers and importers of products, and distributors of articles. 

Conclusion.

REACH SVHC compliance regulations advices companies that they should ban SVHC substances in the candidate list and substitute them with other less harmful substances that do not pose danger to the human health and the environment.