The management and control of substances of very high concern (SVHC) is one of the key elements in the legal framework of Europe’s REACH regulation. Both European REACH and CLP regulation established the system of identification and evaluation on these substances.
The first list of SVHC was published on Dec 28th 2008 by European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) and contained 15 substances, there are now 168 substances in the list. The hazardous properties of these substances include carcinogenic, toxic to reproduction (CMR), persistent, bioaccumulative and toxic (PBT), and very persistent and very bioaccumulative (vPvB). ECHA requires the manufacturers and importers of articles to notify the substances if:
The substance is on the Candidate List, and
The substance is present in the articles at a total of >1 ton per producer/importer per year, and
The substance is present in those articles above a concentration of 0.1% by weight.
Many countries outside Europe also have their own laws and regulations on SVHC or substances of similar concepts, such as the California Proposition 65 in United States and the Consumer Product Safety Act in Japan. However, the SVHC concept is not part of China’s chemical management system so far. The lack of identification and evaluation methods on SVHC is regarded as a missing link in China’s chemical risk management.
On Apr 24th 2017, Chinese Standardization Administration (SAC) published on its official website the draft plan of a national standard called Guidelines on Identification and Evaluation of Substances of Very High Concern. Besides the identification and evaluation of SVHC, the national standard will also function in the field of classification of hazardous substances and risk assessment.
SAC didn’t give a specific timeline about when the standard will be finished. About a month ago in Mar 2017, Chinese National Institute of Standardization and Chinese Inspection and Quarantine Center of Fine Chemicals collaborated in drafting a national standard called Substances of Very High Concern in Consumer Products. That standard contained a list of 205 SVHC. This standard hasn’t been approved and enforced yet.
