The European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) is at the heart of the various initiatives of the European Commission’s Chemicals Strategy for Sustainability (CSS). Under the “1 substance, 1 assessment” (1S1A) concept, the European Commission will make a proposal to strengthen its governance and increase the sustainability of its funding model. The principle was presented by the Commission services at the information session on 1 June 2022.
In 2017, as part of the review of the REACH Regulation, ECHA’s performance was evaluated. The proposal that the Commission is about to make will take into account the conclusions of this review as well as the recommendations of the Court of Auditors, the Council and the Parliament, in particular with regard to the financing of the Agency.
As a reminder, the current founding text of ECHA is Title X of the REACH Regulation, and the bulk of the Agency’s income comes from registrations, each of which corresponds to a single payment. After the peak of the years 2009-2010 (which reached 350 million Euros), ECHA’s income has drastically decreased and stabilised at around 26 to 30 million Euros per year. The shortfall is compensated by a contribution from the European Union.
Why an standalone Regulation?
The REACH Regulation, which founded ECHA, was adopted in 2006. The Commission now believes that the rules governing the Agency need to be updated for two main reasons
• ECHA’s mandates have evolved over time, and its tasks, derived from several Regulations (CLP, Biocides, PIC, POPs…) have increased
• The proposal for a founding Regulation will be an opportunity to better align the Agency’s governance …
