ECHA to support EU-wide Action against COVID-19

ECHA is taking measures to support EU action to fight the pandemic caused by the coronavirus disease (COVID-19).

Together with the European Commission, ECHA will support Member States and industry to address shortages with the supply of disinfectants. The main limiting factor seems to be the availability of active substances used in these biocidal products – in particular isopropanol, 1-propanol and ethanol. ECHA is working on special arrangements to help Member States and companies get more disinfectants on the market as soon as possible. More details about concrete actions will follow soon.

Deadlines for certain processes will also be handled flexibly, including the payment of invoices. For certain deadlines that fall between now and the end of May 2020, companies will receive an extension of two months. This applies to cases where companies have initially failed to provide a complete registration for their chemicals and were granted a final deadline between March and May 2020, as well as for requests for further information related to confidentiality claims.

An extension of 30 days will also apply for companies to comment on ECHA’s draft decisions in cases where a registration has been considered incompliant with legal requirements.

More information on these arrangements will be published soon and duty holders will also be informed directly through ECHA’s IT systems.

Reference: