The Forum for Exchange of Information on Enforcement (Forum), composed of one appointed member from each EU Member State, is a network of authorities responsible for the enforcement of the REACH, CLP, PIC, POP and Biocidal Product Regulations in the EU, Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein. The Forum sets its own work programme based on the list of tasks specified in the above regulations and provides solutions to specific areas of enforcement.
To increase awareness of enterprises and e-commerce platforms on requirements for compliance, and to enhance cooperation between Member States, the EU has started the eighth major Forum Enforcement Project (REF-8) in 2020.
On December 8, 2021, the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) published the report of REF-8, with a large number of products being non-compliant with at least one requirement under EU’s REACH, CLP and BPR regulations.
The national enforcement authorities (NEAs) in the 29 participant countries inspected a total of 5,730 products, and the product categories of the products are as follows:
| SUBSTANCE | MIXTURE | ARTICLE |
|---|---|---|
| 323 | 4,631 | 776 |
The inspection results are as follows:
| REGULATION | # OF PRODUCTS INSPECTED | # OF NON-COMPLIANT PRODUCTS | PERCENTAGE |
|---|---|---|---|
| REACH Annex XVII | 2,629 | 2,042 | 78% |
| REACH SDS (Article 31) | 956 | 49 | 5% |
| CLP | 2,752 | 2,065 | 75% |
| BPR | 1,153 | 891 | 77% |
The result shows a large number of products sold online were non-compliant with relevant regulations, and SDSs of several checked products were not correctly provided according to Article 31 of REACH regulation. At present, the NEAs have taken relevant enforcement measures on non-compliant products.
Among the non-compliant products related to REACH, the restriction requirements under Annex XVII to REACH regulation were mainly checked. A total of 655 article products were inspected, of which 164 (25%) were non-compliant, involving restrictions entries on cadmium, CMR substances, phthalates, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, asbestos, etc.
The enforcement report recommends the NEAs continue to perform inspections on products sold online to avoid non-compliant products entering the market. The relevant web shops also need to raise awareness and require product manufacturers to provide more information to ensure the compliance of products sold online.
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