American Coatings Association

On Dec.17, 2012, the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) released a statement that it intended to add 54 substances to the Substances of Very High Concern (SVHC) list. Inclusion on the SVHC list is based on a chemical’s carcinogenicity, mutagenicity, toxicity for reproduction,and persistent/bioaccumulative properties. The SVHC list includes chemicals that could later be banned under the European Union’s REACH law. 

With these proposed additions, the SVHC list now totals 138 chemicals. This surpasses ECHA’s 2010 goal to have 136 chemicals listed before the close of 2012. 

If your company sells paints and coatings inside the European Union, this update may affect your current product line. 

ECHA updated the SVHC list on December 19, 2012, which is available here: http://echa.europa.eu/candidate-list-table.  ECHA further stated that, while 23 of the 54 new chemicals were reviewed by a committee of experts, the remaining 31 were added to the SVHC without review by a committee of experts.

The member state committee is also proposing the addition of 10 substances from the SVHC list to the Annex XIV of REACH, effectively banning the chemicals, unless special permission for continued use is granted.  The substances are (1) 1,2-dichloroethane; (2) 2,2’-dichloro-4,4’-methylenedianiline; (3) arsenic acid; (4) bis(2-methoxyethyl) ether (diglyme); (5) dichromium tris(chromate); (6) formaldehyde; (7) N,N-dimethylacetamide; (8) pentazinc chromate octahydroxide; (9) potassium hydroxyoctaoxodizincatedichromate; and (10) strontium chromate.  Although, ECHA has proposed banning these chemicals, the European Commission has the ultimate authority to ban such chemicals.

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