REACH: extended safety data sheets

If you use hazardous substances registered under REACH, your suppliers now have to provide you in most cases with a new, extended safety data sheet that includes exposure scenarios. The extended safety data sheet summarises the key information from the chemical safety assessment that a company in your supply chain has carried out under REACH.
ACEA, together with CEPE, the European Council of Paint and Printing Ink producers, developed what is named “specific Environmental Release Categories” (spERCs), which are describing standardised sector specific working conditions and risk management measures.
spERCs should be used instead of Environmental Release Categories mentioned in the extended safety data sheet in exposure assessment tools like ECETOC-TRA because they give more realistic input and output data for the risk assessment of processes used in the automotive industry.
For more information on spERCs, please see ‘spERCs in a nutshell’, below.