ECHA is looking for information on the uses and releases of two substances of very high concern on the Candidate List - 2, 4-dinitrotoluene and lead chromate. The information is needed to help ECHA to judge whether they should be recommended as substances which should be subject to authorisation.

ECHA is issuing an update of the "Consumer Exposure Estimation" (Chapter R.15) of the Guidance on Information Requirements and Chemical Safety Assessment.

Downstream users of chemicals now have the chance to check whether the critical chemical substances that they need are going to be registered in time. ECHA has today published a list of all the chemical substances that companies have told us they plan to register for the 2010 REACH deadline. If a substance should be registered in 2010 and it is not, it will be illegal to manufacture or sell it within the EU after 30 November 2010.

The European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) has published Guidance for Annex V exemptions from the obligation to register. The document is now available in the Guidance section of the ECHA website.

The European Chemicals Agency has added Acrylamide (EC No 201-173-7 and CAS No 79-06-1)1 to the Candidate List of Substances Very High Concern (SVHC) for Authorisation. Companies who manufacture or import this substance need to check their potential obligations that result from the listing. A short summary of the obligations is available on ECHA´s website.

ECHA is issuing an update of the Use Descriptor Chapter of the Guidance on Information Requirements and Chemical Safety Assessment. The document is now available in the Guidance section of the ECHA website and will assist registrants in preparing their chemical safety report using the forthcoming new Chesar tool.

The European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) has today published proposals to identify eight chemicals as Substances of Very High Concern (SVHC) and possible candidates for authorisation. The detailed proposals are available on the ECHA website using the link at the end of this press release. Interested parties are invited to comment on the eight proposals by 22 April 2010.

ECHA's Member State Committee identified today 15 new chemical substances for the Candidate List of substances of very high concern. The List will formally be updated in January 2010.

On the 1st December 2009 the European Chemicals Agency will hold a Substance Identity Workshop in Helsinki. The workshop will clarify key substance identity concepts in the context of REACH processes such as inquiry and registration. This event is for people in companies who are responsible for dossier preparation who have questions on substance identity. Since the number of places available is limited to 100, companies are invited to send one delegate only. Participation will then be confirmed on a first come first served basis.

The final deadline for the pre-registration of certain chemical substances and high volume manufacturers and importers is on 30 November 2009. This deadline applies to companies within the first 6 months of manufacturing, importing or using a phase-in substance that needs to be registered by 30 November 2010.

A series of interactive multimedia events have now been scheduled to provide Lead Registrants with key information on the registration of substances. Each webinar will last up to two hours and is available for up to 1000 participants. ECHA is hosting three webinars in 2009 with more events planned for 2010.

There are less than two months left for the Downstream Users of chemical substances to inform their suppliers of the use they make of the substance. The deadline, 30 November 2009, applies only if the substance needs to be registered before 1 December 2010.

ECHA has updated the Questions and Answers for the registrants of previously notified substances and the Data Submission Manual 5: How to complete a technical dossier for registrations and PPORD notifications. The new sections provide additional information on when to update a registration that is based on a previous notification, how to claim a registration number for a substance previously notified under Directive 67/548/EEC, how to update confidentiality claims and on minimum data required in IUCLID 5.