EU Commission Seeks to Improve Access to Chemicals Data

The European Commission has started an initiative that should simplify access to chemicals data and opened a consultation with stakeholders to submit their reactions by August 16.

In fact, access to chemicals data that comes from governmental agencies, private institutions, or scientific literature is difficult. Furthermore, the exchange and reuse of chemicals data are insufficient across various legal contexts. This consideration is particularly problematic, given that the regulation of chemicals comprises more than 40 legal instruments. The supporters of the initiative state that this situation makes effective coordination among the participants (EU institutions, governmental agencies, industry, and non-governmental organizations) next to impossible.

Accordingly, the EU wants to enhance legal requirements so that:

• The flow of data is streamlined.
• The interoperability – the ability to exchange data over various systems seamlessly – is improved along with the spread and reuse of data at the level of the EU.
• The availability of all the data on a chemical is guaranteed.

Among other measures, the initiative seeks to ensure that:

• The institutions, member states, and industry are mandated to use uniform formats for chemicals data and information.
• The EU Commission and agencies set up an open platform for chemicals data.
• Legal hurdles for the reuse of data are eliminated.
• The requirements for transparency in all legal requirements are harmonized and, if needed, expanded.

The EU plans to present a draft legislative proposal in the first quarter of 2023.

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