Title VII of REACH establishes an authorisation requirement to ensure that the risks from substances of very high concern (SVHC) are properly controlled and that those substances are progressively replaced by suitable alternative substances or technologies.
Uses of SVHC included in Annex XIV of REACH are subject to that authorisation requirement. Legal entities may submit an application for authorisation for specific uses of those substances, which undergoes ECHA’s assessment before being scrutinised by the Commission, which takes a decision on whether the authorisation is granted or refused.
Where risks cannot be adequately controlled, the use of those substances may only be authorised where there is an overall benefit for society and there are no suitable alternatives.
The term Substances of Very High Concern (SVHC) refers to all substances that have been identified to have serious and often irreversible effects on human health and the environment.
If a substance is identified as an SVHC, it will be added to the Candidate List for eventual inclusion in the Authorisation List.
Substances of very high concern are identified in the REACH 'candidate list' for their possible subsequent inclusion in annex XIV of the REACH regulation.
See the list of Commission decisions for SVHC identification (in case of non-unanimous agreement of the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) member state committee).
Annex XIV lists the substances subject to the authorisation requirement.
Once included in that annex, a substance cannot be placed on the market or used after a given date (the so-called 'sunset date') unless the companies concerned, who cannot replace that substance, are granted an authorisation for the specific use(s).
The Commission, pursuant to article 60 of Regulation (EC) No 1907/2006 (REACH), grants an authorisation if the risks arising from the use of an SVHC applied for are adequately controlled or if the socio-economic benefits of that use outweigh the risks and there are no suitable alternatives.
The authorisation decisions are adopted in accordance with article 64(8) of Regulation (EC) No 1907/2006 (REACH) on the basis of the opinions of the Committee for Risk Assessment (RAC) and the Committee for Socio-economic Analysis (SEAC) of ECHA adopted pursuant to article 64(5) of Regulation (EC) No 1907/2006 (REACH).
The list of authorisation decisions (2 MB) includes references to related documentation concerning all applications for authorisation, on which an opinion has been adopted by RAC and SEAC.
Questions & Answers - REACH and Chromium(VI) substances
This Q&A document intends to address the most frequently asked questions concerning the Commission’s risk management of Cr(VI) substances under REACH, covering the European Court of Justice judgment in Case C-144/21 and the potential restriction of Cr(VI) substances.
If you have any additional questions not covered by the current version of this document, you are invited to contact DG GROW, Unit F1 REACH at GROW-F1
ec [dot] europa [dot] eu (GROW-F1[at]ec[dot]europa[dot]eu)
Further information is available on ECHA's website
Relevant ECHA guidance documents and information can also be found in