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.
This section addresses frequently asked questions about the authorisation of uses of substances of very high concern under REACH. It includes the following documents below.
- European Court of Justice Judgment in Case C-144/21 (European Parliament vs Commission)
- summarises the main findings and impact
- details the revised scrutiny by the Commission of authorisation applications
- Towards a Restriction of Cr(VI) Substances under REACH
- provides an overview of the ongoing restriction process and its current status
- Applications for Authorisation and Review Reports for Uses of Hexavalent Chromium in the Aerospace and Defence Sector
- offers an overview of the process and current status of the group of applications/review reports submitted by the ADCR consortium
- Applications for Authorisation for Cr(VI) Substances in Functional Chrome Plating with Decorative Character or in Plating with Decorative Purpose Only
- explains the current status
- describes additional measures introduced by the Commission in relevant decisions
If you have any questions not covered here, please contact Unit F1 REACH of the Directorate-General for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs 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