ECHA Publishes Guidance on New CLP Hazard Classes
27 November 2024
ECHA has recently published new guidance documents to support the application of the CLP criteria following the revision of the CLP Regulation on March 31, 2023. These updates focus on new hazard classes including endocrine disruption (ED), persistence, bioaccumulation, and toxicity (PBT/vPvB, PMT/vPvM).
The new classification system under CLP integrates existing scientific approaches with practical guidance for industry and regulators. It does not require new testing. Instead, it uses existing data to assess and classify substances, ensuring consistency across EU chemical safety frameworks.
For detailed information, you can consult ECHA’s guidance documents available on their official website or watch their latest webinar presenting the recently published guidance on new CLP hazard classes.
As ECHA plans further updates to its guidance documents, industry should be prepared for future refinements that may require re-evaluation of substances already classified, or modification of classification criteria and collection of new evidence in cases where data is lacking. Stakeholders should also expect tight implementation deadlines. It is therefore advisable for industry to start early with the assessment of available data for endocrine activity and adverse effects in order to prioritise substances likely to fall under the ED criteria.
Interpreting ED-related data still requires considerable expert judgement and experience. Incorporating toxicological and regulatory expertise can help you efficiently navigate the complexities of toxicity testing, including ED assessment, and ensure robust justifications for scientifically sound and defensible classifications.
With in-depth regulatory and scientific expertise in all relevant disciplines, SCC can provide you with professional advice and custom-tailored solutions to ensure your regulatory compliance now and in the future. Get in touch with our experts here.