Authorisation requirement for substances of very high concern

For the first time, the new REACH chemicals legislation provides for a procedure for substances of very high concern (such as mutagenic, carcinogenic, or persistent) that are subject to authorisation in the future. The report of the Federal Environment Agency identifies such chemicals and proposes Austrian substances for authorisation. In addition to chemical properties, an important criterion for this selection was the detection of exposure in the environment or at the workplace. The substance selection was based on already harmonised classified substances with CMR (carcinogenic, mutagenic, toxic to reproduction) and/or PBT properties (persistent, bioaccumulative, toxic) and chemicals suspected of having hormone-like effects. An authorisation dossier was established for three substances (dibutyl phthalate, benzyl butyl phthalate and tris(2-chloroethyl) phosphate).