On 18-19 April 2017, RPA Technical Director Linda-Jean Cockcroft attended ECHA’s Helsinki based Seminar on Applications for Authorisation. As well as addressing application strategy and evaluation, the seminar included a Q&A session on the main issues brought by the participants. Linda-Jean notes that “Given the imminent update to REACH Annex XIV, it is perhaps unsurprising that a core focus of the discussions related to the quantification and valuation of health and environmental impacts, and in particular the approach for PBT/vPvB substances, as well as those with endocrine disrupting properties for the environment”.

The House of Commons Environmental Audit Committee has published its report into the Future of Chemicals Regulation following the planned exit of the UK from the EU. RPA's Meg Postle was specialist adviser to the Committee.

On 8 December 2016, the EU REACH Committee voted in favour of a draft act proposing the addition of 12 substances to the REACH Authorisation list. If you manufacture these substances and your downstream users are located in the EU or if you are actually a user of one of these substances, the time to act is now.

Findings from a systematic literature review of available information on HBM of pesticides (or their metabolites) in occupational settings and from HBM studies/surveillance programmes has been published by EFSA in the EFSA Supporting Publications journal.

RPA’s study on the regulatory fitness of the chemicals legislation framework (excluding REACH) has been published by the European Commission