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As reported in our October 11, 2017, blog item, on October 9, 2017, the European Commission (EC) began a public consultation on a draft regulation that would amend Annexes I, III, VI, VII, VIII, IX, X, XI, and XII of the Registration, Evaluation, Authorization and Restriction of Chemicals (REACH) regulation to address nanoforms of substances.  Comments were due November 6, 2017.  The EC has posted the comments online.  In all, 36 comments were...

On November 30, 2017, the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) will hold a webinar to explain the support documentation available for registrants that cover nanoforms in their Registration, Evaluation, Authorization and Restriction of Chemicals (REACH) registration dossier.  ECHA states that the main focus will be on the registration and read-across of nanoforms, but the webinar will also cover updates for information requirements for human health and the environment.  According to the agenda,...

The European Trade Union Institute (ETUI) recently published a policy brief entitled “EU Observatory for Nanomaterials:  a constructive view on future regulation.”  The policy brief provides information about the European Union (EU) Observatory for Nanomaterials (EUON), how it is being developed, its limitations, and “why it is not an ideal option.”  According to the policy brief, the absence of risk information regarding nanomaterials in safety data sheets (SDS) “is one of the main...

On October 9, 2017, the European Commission (EC) began a public consultation on a draft regulation that would amend Annexes I, III, VI, VII, VIII, IX, X, XI, and XII of the Registration, Evaluation, Authorization and Restriction of Chemicals (REACH) regulation to address nanoforms of substances.  The draft regulation states that: Comments are due November 6, 2017....

The European Commission (EC) Joint Research Center (JRC) has published the NANoREG Toolbox for the Safety Assessment of Nanomaterials.  As reported in our May 8, 2017, blog item, JRC previously published a Science for Policy report entitled NANoREG framework for the safety assessment of nanomaterials.  The report was developed within the NANoREG project, “A common European approach to the regulatory testing of nanomaterials.”  The NANoREG framework represents the project’s proposal...

On September 27, 2017, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) published a corrected version of the Developments in Delegations on the Safety of Manufactured Nanomaterials — Tour De Table, which covers developments on the safety of manufactured nanomaterials that were provided by OECD delegations from March to August 2017.  It summarizes relevant information on activities related to manufactured nanomaterials, as well as other activities on nanotechnologies...

On September 15, 2017, the European Commission (EC) began a public consultation on the revision of the 2011 EC Recommendation on the definition of nanomaterial.  The EC intended the definition to achieve consistent application of the term nanomaterial across all legislation.  The definition includes descriptors that the EC intended to review by December 2014 to ensure that the definition corresponds to the needs.  In particular, the review must examine issues where there...

The European Commission (EC) Environment Directorate General (DG) published an August 2017 report entitled Assessing the environmental safety of manufactured nanomaterials.  The report “shows that, despite early fears, nano-sized particles are not inherently more toxic than larger particles; however, differences between them may be notable and new insights are still being provided by research.”  The report’s aim is “to present the most promising strategies and most significant...

In July 2017, the European Commission’s (EC) Joint Research Center (JRC) published a report entitled Evaluation of the availability and applicability of computational approaches in the safety assessment of nanomaterials:  Final report of the Nanocomput project.  The main aims of the Nanocomput Project were to review and assess the current status of computational methods that are potentially useful for predicting the properties of engineered nanomaterials to provide advice on the use of...

On June 30, 2017, the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) Board of Appeal published two decisions related to nanomaterials.  In the July 5, 2017, issue of ECHA Weekly, ECHA states that the Board of Appeal “largely upheld the appeals and annulled most of the requests for information.”  In Cases A-014-2015 and A-015-2015, registrants appealed the same 2015 ECHA decision requesting information on synthetic amorphous silica (SAS) following a substance evaluation by the Netherlands Competent...