European Commission develops proposals for an evaluation of endocrine effects under REACH

The European Commission is planning to define standard information requirements (REACH Annexes VII-X) to evaluate possible endocrine effects of chemicals registered under the REACH Regulation. Furthermore, a change of REACH Annex I is proposed to include an assessment of endocrine disruption as a separate entity (much like the assessment of PBT/vPvB properties that is already required). As a consequence, the Chemical Safety Report will be extended as well and the plans envisage that ECHA develops a corresponding Guidance Document.  While details of the standard information requirements are yet to be drafted, the work required for a chemical safety assessment is likely to increase substantially in the future.