Infokiri

1 (1)

Telakkakatu 6, P.O. Box 400, FI-00121 Helsinki, Finland | Tel. +358 9 686180 | echa.europa.eu

ANNEX 1: Expiring MSC Memberships by 31 December 2025

Country Name Role Organisation/

MSCAs

End of

Term

Portugal ALMEIDA Ines MSC member Portuguese Environment Agency 12/08/2025

Croatia KOVAČEVIĆ Tajana MSC Alternate member Ministry of Health 13/08/2025

Slovenia HUMAR-JURIČ Tatjana MSC member

Chemicals Office of the Republic of

Slovenia 11/11/2025

Sweden MALKIEWICZ Katarzyna MSC member Swedish Chemicals Agency 31/12/2025

Annex 2

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Helsinki, 16 April 2025

Information on tasks and expected expertise for the

Member State Committee

1 Introduction

The Member State Committee (MSC) of the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) is

responsible for resolving potential divergences of opinions on draft decisions proposed by

ECHA or the Member States (MSs) on dossier and substance evaluation and on proposals

for identification of substances of very high concern. Furthermore, MSC gives its opinion

to ECHA on the substances to be put on the Community Rolling Action Plan for evaluation

and on the recommendation of priority substances to be included on the authorisation list

(Annex XIV). MSC thus has an important role in the key REACH P0F

1 P processes concerning

evaluation and authorisation.

MSC is composed of members appointed directly by each of the 27 Member States and

the three EEA-EFTA countries. Only the members appointed by MSs have the right to

vote. Alternate members may also be appointed by the MSs.

This document has been developed to support MSs in appointing the most suitable

member to MSC or renewing the membership of the current member by outlining the

expectations of expertise for the MSC members. Further background on MSC’s role, tasks

and operation is provided in Appendices. Members are expected to dedicate around 30%

of their work time to MSC.

2 Expectations of expertise for the MSC members

The REACH Regulation makes it clear that members of the Committees must possess the

necessary qualifications in order to allow the Committees to meet the high expectations

put on them.

To deal with the different tasks referred to above, a range of expertise is required within

MSC to ensure that all aspects concerning these issues can be addressed.

Given the complexity of the tasks, the members of MSC need to have relevant

experience and expertise in the many science areas for which MSC is responsible.

Examples of areas of discussion are: mutagenicity, reproductive toxicity, sensitization,

endocrine disruption for both human health and the environment, persistence,

bioaccumulation, aquatic/terrestrial/sediment toxicity, environment and human exposure

and toxicokinetics. Familiarity with New Approach Methodologies (NAMs), neurotoxicity

and/or immunotoxicity would also be an asset. Examples of different chemistries are:

UVCBs, nanomaterials, surfactants, mobile substances. Ideally, they should themselves

cover one or several areas of expertise at expert level, and for a number of other areas

they should either have some experience themselves and/or have access to in-depth

expertise. Moreover, the members should have good understanding of the REACH

requirements and regulatory science as well as have sufficient resources available for the

Committee work. They should also possess the necessary negotiating skills to solve any

divergences of views in an efficient manner.

1 Regulation (EC) No 1907/2006 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 18 December 2006 concerning the Registration,

Evaluation, Authorisation, and Restriction of Chemicals (REACH)

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Each of the members of MSC should possess, or have access to, the necessary expertise

for drawing up opinions and unanimous agreements concerning:

• evaluation of testing proposals or requirements for additional information required

under dossier evaluation;

• compliance checks and examination of additional information required under

dossier or substance evaluation;

• community rolling action plan for substances which could constitute a risk to

human health or the environment; and

• identification of substances of very high concern and prioritising them for

authorisation.

MSC is also expected to revise and further develop methodology regarding its field of

competence and to give input to guidance updates.

To ensure sufficient coverage of all required expertise areas, members may be

accompanied to the meetings by advisors or experts.

In accordance with Article 85(6) of the REACH Regulation, MSs are obliged to support the

MSC members by providing adequate scientific and technical resources to them. ECHA

reimburses the travel and accommodation expenses and pays subsistence allowances to

the members.

3 Further appointment considerations

In addition to experience in one or more of the areas listed above, MSs are requested to

give preference to candidates who possess significant experience at least in one,

preferably several, of the following areas:

• Experience in national and EU chemicals management policy;

• Overall good knowledge and understanding of the legal requirements of the

REACH Regulation, its policy objectives and the balance between these objectives;

• Experience in drafting regulatory or legislative decisions and to defend these in

front of expert audiences;

• Experience in carrying out scientific and/or regulatory risk assessments;

• International experience in discussing chemical hazard or risk assessment; and/or

• Experience in the EU committee work on chemicals.

In addition to the qualifications and expertise of members, the functioning of MSC

requires that members attend the meetings which are held in Helsinki, Finland at ECHA’s

premises on a regular basis. This includes preparation time for the plenary meetings,

which, depending on the number of dossiers, can be considerable. MSC members can be

called upon to act as rapporteur to prepare a draft MSC opinion, to participate in other

MSC activities such as working groups, and share the responsibility to join in the debate

and provide interventions in plenary sessions of MSC. Additionally, a considerable

demand on a MSC member’s time is stemming from written procedures used for

agreement seeking in between plenary meetings. MSC members should be entitled to

dedicate sufficient working time to MSC activities - at around 30% of their time.

Plenary meetings of MSC are held 4 times per year, typically for two to four full days.

Some of those meetings may be held remotely. MSC has, since its start in February 2008

until April 2025, held 89 meetings. The actual number and duration of meetings will

depend on the workload, on the operating procedures and on the output of any potential

working groups.

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Appendix 1: Composition, role and tasks of the Member State Committee

MSC is composed of members appointed directly by each of the 27 Member States and

the three EEA-EFTA countries. Only the members appointed by MSs have the right to

vote.

In order to ensure smooth functioning and decision making in MSC, two specific

arrangements are in place with MSC: 1) MSs may appoint an alternate member who can

replace the appointed member when one is not in attendance at the meeting or available

to respond to requests in written consultation. 2) MSC has agreed on arrangement of

proxy vote in case a member with voting right or their alternate is absent from a

meeting.

In accordance with Article 77(1) of the Regulation, the task of ECHA is to provide the

best possible scientific and technical advice on questions related to chemicals. MSC plays

an important role to achieve this: The Committee has a conciliatory role, aiming i.e. to

solve divergences of opinions and reach agreement amongst Member States' authorities

on specific issues which require a harmonised approach, thus allowing ECHA to take

decisions efficiently.

The tasks of MSC are described in REACH in Art. 76(1)(e). An overview of the MSC tasks

is provided below.

U1. Evaluation

MSC has an essential role in

Dossier evaluation:

• Seeking agreement when the examination of testing proposals or additional

information required under dossier evaluation results in draft decisions to which

amendments are proposed by MSs;

• Seeking agreement when the compliance check results in a draft decision to which

amendments are proposed by MSs;

Substance evaluation:

• Seeking agreement when a MS or ECHA has proposed to amend the draft decision on

substance evaluation;

• Providing an opinion on a draft update of the Community rolling action plan prepared

by the ECHA Secretariat for substances which could constitute a risk to human health

or the environment;

• Providing an opinion on whether or not to add a substance to the Community rolling

action plan following proposals from a MS; and

• Seeking agreement in cases where two or more MSs have expressed an interest in

evaluating the same substance.

Currently the tasks related to dossier and substance evaluation decision making form a

substantial workload for MSC.

U2. Authorisation

MSC has an essential role in:

• Seeking agreement on the identification of substances of very high concern to be

included on the candidate list (SVHCs) for potential inclusion in Annex XIV (list of

substances subject to authorisation); and

• Providing opinions on draft recommendations prepared by the ECHA Secretariat on

priority substances to be included in Annex XIV.

These will remain as regular tasks in the work program of MSC.

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In addition, the Executive Director of ECHA may request MSC to provide technical and

scientific support to improve cooperation between the Community, its MSs, international

organisations and third countries on scientific and technical issues relating to the safety

of substances, as well as active participation in technical assistance and capacity building

activities on sound management of chemicals in developing countries. MSC may also be

asked to draw up an opinion on any other aspects concerning the safety of substances on

their own, in preparations or in articles.

The work of MSC, including agendas and minutes of the meetings, may be consulted

from 3TUhttp://echa.europa.eu/web/guest/about-us/who-we-are/member-state-committee U3T

5(5)

Appendix 2 - Working procedures of the Committee

There are fixed, in some cases very short (30 days) deadlines for the delivery of the MSC

tasks. By default the majority of the cases that are brought to MSC are difficult in the

sense that there are diverging views among the MSs or comments have been made on

an issue. However, ECHA Secretariat provides MSC with all the necessary background

information to support it in its agreement seeking either in the form of a proposal for a

revised draft evaluation decision or otherwise.

In each case if an agreement is not found within the deadline, ECHA will refer the case to

the Commission decision making. However, MSC would have to adopt a view on the issue

and record any minority views.

The Rules of Procedure of MSC2 specify many aspects of the Committee’s operations, for

example procedures for delegating certain tasks to working groups and use of written

procedures. In addition, MSC has established specific working procedures for most of its

tasks3.

MSC is chaired by an ECHA staff member, Ms Katinka van der Jagt, supported by a

Committee Secretariat provided by ECHA. The Secretariat is in particular responsible for:

• organising the Committee meetings;

• co-ordinating work within the Agency and with the other ECHA Committees, and

promoting consistency of the decisions within and between the Committees;

• capturing generic approaches based on conclusions from MSC and informing

externals about the work and outputs of the MSC, such as meeting minutes and

opinions, and maintaining a Manual of Decisions and Opinions; and

• organising the follow-up of the MSC decisions.

2 MSC Rules of procedure may be consulted at the following link 3 The working procedures of MSC may be consulted at the following link in COMMITTEE'S PROCESSES

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Prevention and Management of potential Conflicts of Interest for members of ECHA bodies

1. Purpose

This procedure describes the duties of members of ECHA bodies to declare all competing

interests held by them and for the chairpersons of the respective ECHA bodies to assess

those competing interests and to put in place effective controls and to impose mitigating

measures where such interests carry a risk of turning into conflicts of interest.

2. Scope

This Procedure document (adopted by the Management Board on 21 June 2023:

Management Board Decision 19/2023, reference document MB/19/2023 final) applies to all

members, including co-opted and alternate members of the ECHA bodies, including the

Board of Appeal.

For the specific groups below, the general principles of this procedure equally apply, but

adaptations are made in view of their specific mandate:

Advisers and invited experts

The REACH Regulation provides that members of ECHA bodies may be accompanied by

advisers on scientific, technical or regulatory matters.

Invited experts are experts in technical or scientific fields who can, upon proposal of a

member or the Secretariat and in agreement with the ECHA body or with the chairperson

be invited by the Agency to participate for one or more points of the agenda in a meeting

of the ECHA body or its working groups.

In addition, REACH foresees that Member States shall transmit to the Agency the names

of experts who would be available to serve on working groups of the Committees.

This procedure applies in principle to all advisers and invited experts, however due to their

specific role, they do not have the same personal duties as members besides the duty to

make a specific declaration of interest at the meeting if such occurs.

Indeed, while advisers and invited experts may attend meetings of ECHA bodies, they do

not usually do so on a regular basis, they do not hold a vote, nor take up any other formal

role (e.g., rapporteurship) and therefore annual declaration of interest or other measures

are not considered necessary.

However, under certain circumstances, e.g., where a working group of an ECHA body is on

a more permanent basis staffed by advisers or invited experts, not being the formally

appointed members of the ECHA body, the chairperson may decide to apply parts of this

procedure (e.g., the duty to submit annual declarations of interest) in full to such advisers

or invited experts. Such solutions have been put in place for instance for the permanent

working groups of the Biocidal Products Committee and the RAC working group on the

Drinking Water Directive.

Besides the option available in certain ECHA bodies to appoint alternate members (who

have to comply with all duties under these procedures as other members), the rules of

procedure may provide that the members, when prevented from attending a meeting, can

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identify a person to attend the meeting on their behalf as invited expert or person of trust,

without voting rights. Such persons shall also declare potential conflicts of interest before

the start of the meeting, to be assessed by the chairperson.

Stakeholder observers

ECHA welcomes the attendance of observers of the stakeholder organisations at the

meetings of the Committees, the Forum and informal ECHA expert groups and networks

selected by the respective body, expert group or network. These stakeholder observers

have to comply with the Code of conduct for observers at ECHA meetings (ED-0035 of 18

December 2020).

Furthermore, the Rules of Procedure of an ECHA body may foresee the possibility to invite

case owners or applicants to participate in a meeting or part of it as observers. As these

case owner/applicant observers clearly are attending the meeting to defend the interests of

their organisation in a particular dossier, it is unnecessary that they make a declaration of

interest. Strict compliance with the applicable Code of conduct shall be enforced (see ECHA

Code of conduct for case owners of evaluation draft decisions as observers at meetings of

the Member State Committee (ED/88/2022) and ECHA Code of conduct for applicants

participating in the Biocidal Products Committee and its Working Groups (ED/104/2013).

3. Description

All members of ECHA bodies have the duty to declare all competing interests held by them

by submitting and keeping up-to-date an annual declaration of interest compliant with the

form FOR-0039 and submitting any specific declaration as required (see chapter 3.1).

The chairpersons of the respective ECHA bodies have the duty to assess all competing

interests declared and to put in place effective controls and to impose mitigating measures

where such interest carry a risk of turning into conflicts of interest (see chapter 3.2).

3.1. Step 1: Declaring all possible competing interests

3.1.1. Before the mandate/employment

All candidates for a position in the Agency are thoroughly screened before appointment.

For the members of the ECHA bodies, the pre-recruitment screening is based on the generic exclusion criteria as described in chapter 3.2.1 and annex 2. For this purpose, candidates for appointment as members of an ECHA body for which the Management Board is the Appointing Authority (i.e. the Board of Appeal, the Risk Assessment Committee and the Committee for Socio-economic Analysis) shall be requested to complete a wri t ten declaration of interest (based on FOR-0039) following their placement on the list of candidates by the Commission or the nomination by their respective Member State. This should allow the Management Board to analyse the declarations made, in order to take an informed decision on each appointment. For the positions in ECHA bodies for which ECHA is not the Appointing Authority (membership in the Management Board, the Member State Committee, the Biocidal Products Committee and the Enforcement Forum), the same criteria are applied as guidelines to which the relevant Appointing Authorities are invited to adhere.

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3.1.2. During the mandate/employment

Biographies

Due to the importance of ensuring transparency on their background, all members of the

ECHA bodies shall provide the Agency with a biography, containing their professional

qualifications and education, which shall be made public on the ECHA website.

The same duty shall apply for the Chairpersons of the ECHA Committees (MSC, RAC, SEAC,

BPC).

Specific declarations

At each meeting the Management Board members and the members of the Committees and

the Forum (and their advisors) and any experts participating in the meeting are explicitly

asked by the chair to declare any interests which could be considered to be prejudicial to

their independence with respect to any of the points on the agenda. Such conflicting

interests are recorded in the minutes together with the specific mitigating measures

imposed (see also chapter 3.2.2.) and made public.

When a Committee member is appointed as Rapporteur or Co-Rapporteur, he or she needs

to make for each case a written declaration of absence of conflict of interest in line with

Article 87(1) of the REACH Regulation. A member of a Committee is not appointed

rapporteur for a particular case if he/she indicates any interest that might be prejudicial to

the independent consideration of that case.

The members of the Board of Appeal are required to make an ad-hoc declaration for each

specific case before the allocation of that case to them.

Annual declarations

Procedure

According to Article 88(2) of the REACH Regulation, all members of the Management Board

and of the Committees and the Forum shall, when taking up their duties, make a written

declaration of interest which could be considered to be prejudicial to their independence.

Also all members of the Board of Appeal are required to make an annual declaration of

interest in writing.

The initial declarations are renewed annually. The secretariat of the respective ECHA body

is in contact with members in order to ensure that regular updates are provided. If at any

point in time changes occur to the situation of the member’s interests, he/she makes an

updated declaration without delay.

The respective secretariat of the ECHA body shall publish the declarations of interest on the

ECHA website.

Based on a decision by the chairperson, the same duty may apply to the core members of

working groups established under the auspices of one of these ECHA bodies (if no annual

declaration was already submitted/published for the same member).

Content

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All interests that may interfere with the work of the Agency and its duty to take impartial

and objective decisions in the public interest shall be declared. An affirmative answer in the

annual declaration does not automatically disqualify the individual concerned, but requires

the chair to have it screened in accordance with this Procedure, in order to determine if a

conflict of interest exists.

Timeframe: all current interests and those that existed during the last 5 years. One should

count 5 years from the date of submitting the declaration.

For interests held by close family members, investments and intellectual property rights,

only current interests need to be declared.

Family ties: all current interests held by any members of the declarant’s household

(spouse, partner and dependent children, as well as other relatives under the care of the

members of the household) should be declared.

The names of the members of the declarant’s household do not need to be declared and the

declaration shall be limited to the interests that the declarant is aware of to the best of

his/her knowledge.

The regulatory field of activity of ECHA: all interest that may interfere with the work of

the Agency shall be declared. This means that all interests in a commercial entity or other

organisation which is subject to the authority of ECHA (i.e. duty-holders under any of the

legislations under ECHA’s mandate) or which has dealings with ECHA shall be declared.

Only direct interests in duty-holders are considered and not interests in (potential)

competitors or (potential) co-registrants.

Confidential interests: when bound by a professional or contractual duty of secrecy, for

instance with regard to former clients represented (e.g. as lawyer or consultant), one shall

only declare the employment with the law firm or consultancy firm concerned. The declarant

shall then proactively make a specific declaration of absence of conflict of interest, each

time a task is assigned to him/her related to a former client operating in the regulatory field

of activity of the Agency. In some instance also the identity of substances worked on can

be considered confidential, in which case they do not need to be included.

Employment, consultancy, legal representation or advice

Employment is to be interpreted as covering all forms of employment (also self-

employment), part-time and full-time, either paid or unpaid, in any organisation (profit or

non-profit, public or private) whose activities fall within the regulatory field of activity of

ECHA.

Consultancy, legal representation or advice within the regulatory field of activity of ECHA,

regardless of whether they charge a fee or not, is to be considered as well. This also includes

the provision of an expert opinion or testimony for a commercial entity or other organisation,

as part of a regulatory, legislative or judicial process. Any contracts or collaborations with

ECHA should also be specified. As stated above, the obligation to declare shall not prejudice

any professional or contractual duty of secrecy with regard to the identity of (former) clients

or substances worked on.

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For members and invited experts of ECHA bodies, all current employment with a Member

State Competent Authority shall also be covered.

Information about subsidiaries/parent companies of a former employer shall be declared,

but only to the extent that such corporate links are known to the declarant.

Membership of a governing body, scientific advisory body or equivalent structure

Membership of a governing body is to be interpreted as any participation in the internal

decision-making (e.g. board membership, directorship) of a public or private organisation

or commercial entity operating in the regulatory field of activity of ECHA.

Participation in a scientific advisory body is to be interpreted as meaning that the person

concerned is participating or has participated in the works of a scientific advisory body

operating in the regulatory field of activity of ECHA with a right to vote on the outputs of

that entity (e.g. voting on scientific output adopted by that entity).

For this purpose the fact of whether this activity is remunerated or not is irrelevant.

Other membership, affiliation or position

This shall include active membership of or involvement in any organisation relevant to the

regulatory field of activity of ECHA, other than the above. This shall in particular concern

membership of interest groups (i.e. organisations engaged in activities carried out with the

objective of directly or indirectly influencing the formulation or implementation of policy and

decision-making processes of the Agency). However, membership of a religious group, a

political party, a trade union or comparable entity does not need to be declared. Scientific

societies and similar professional associations, who are not active in regulatory advice or

lobbying activities in the regulatory field of ECHA, are also excluded.

Active membership or involvement shall include the making of donations beyond the regular

membership fee; active participation to events or other contributions to activities; active

involvement in the internal working of the organisation; et cetera.

Public office or other positions should be interpreted as the holding of an office or other

position, paid or unpaid, where the declarant represents interests or defends an opinion in

the regulatory field of activity of ECHA.

Research funding

This includes any funding for research provided by a private or public entity, including

grants, rents, sponsorships and fellowships and received in a personal capacity or via the

research entity to which one belongs (as long as it is related to projects to which the

declarant has or had direct links) and falling within the regulatory field of activity of ECHA.

Non-monetary support is also envisaged (e.g. equipment, facilities, research assistants,

paid travel to meetings, et cetera). The declarant is requested to specify the estimated value

if possible.

Investments

A conflict of interest would arise if an individual working with ECHA were to handle a matter

or otherwise take part in a decision-making process (including through consultation)

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involving a commercial entity in which the person(s) concerned holds securities or otherwise

has a financial interest.

Consequently, the Agency has decided that the holding of a current financial interest of

more than 10,000 EUR per commercial entity is considered as such a substantial value that

it should be declared. In addition and notwithstanding their financial value, holding of

shares, stocks or comparable amounting to a voting right of 5 % or more in a company,

should be declared. Several investments in the same commercial entity made by different

persons in the same household shall be counted together for calculating the threshold.

However, several investments in different companies are not counted together for

calculating the threshold. Interests below the threshold are to be declared on a voluntary

basis. In view of frequent changes in the price value of such investments one shall update

the declaration when the price has been fixed for a certain period of time above the

threshold. The declarant is requested to specify the estimated value at the time of

submission.

The term ’financial interest’ or ‘investment’ shall mean any financial interest in undertakings

which are subject to the authority of ECHA or which have dealings with ECHA, including the

holding of stocks and shares, stock options, equity, bonds, and/or partnership interest in

the capital of such an undertaking. This includes ’financial interests’ or ‘investments’ in a

subsidiary of the said undertaking or in a commercial entity in which the said undertaking

holds capital.

Partnerships in law-firms or other managerial stakes are to be considered as well, if not

already covered under one of the other sections.

However, the holding of financial interest through an investment fund, pension fund and/or

interests in non-nominal unit trusts or similar arrangements would not, in principle, need to

be declared, provided that these investments are broadly diversified and the individual has

no influence on their financial management.

Intellectual property

These are the rights granted to creators and owners of works that are the result of human

intellectual creativity and that pertain to a domain falling within the regulatory field of

activity of ECHA. These can be publications or can be in the industrial, scientific and artistic

domain. They can be in the form of an invention, a manuscript, a suite of software, or a

business name (e.g. copyrights, trademarks, patents, et cetera). Proprietary know-how in

a substance, technology or process can also be relevant. The declarant is requested to

specify the estimated value at the time of submission if possible.

Other relevant information

In addition to the interests above, a declarant should declare any other interest or fact that

might prejudice their independence. These other elements may for instance include:

- relevant interests held beyond the past 5 years;

- close personal relationships (such as those with adult offspring, non dependent parents or

siblings, close personal friendships, et cetera) and interests held by such individuals;

- the delivery of speeches or training for a commercial entity or other organisation with an

interest in the regulatory field of activity of ECHA, regardless of whether any payment was

provided;

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- continuing rights of return to previous employment or positions and standing offers or

agreements about future employment;

- gifts received exceeding 50 EUR (including travel, hospitality or other forms of valuable

benefit).

3.2. Step 2: Effective controls for preventing conflicts of interests:

applying cooling off periods

Based on the annual and specific declarations, the chairpersons of the respective ECHA

bodies have the duty to assess all competing interests declared and to put in place

effective controls and to impose mitigating measures where such interests carry a risk

of turning into conflicts of interest.

3.2.1. Assessment criteria

Generic exclusion criteria applicable for key positions

For certain key positions for which ECHA is the Appointing Authority, it has adopted generic

exclusion criteria (see annex 2) with which candidates have to comply to be considered for

appointment, including for the position of:

• Chairperson of the Member State Committee, Committee for Risk Assessment and

Committee for Socio-economic Analysis;

• Member of the Agency’s Board of Appeal;

• Member of the Committee for Risk Assessment;

• Member of the Committee for Socio-economic Analysis.

For the positions for which ECHA is not the Appointing Authority the same criteria are applied

as guidelines (see annex 2) to which the relevant Appointing Authorities are invited to

adhere:

• Member of the Management Board (with the exception of the Commission when

appointing the three Management Board members to represent interested parties)

• Member of the Member State Committee;

• Member of the Biocidal Products Committee;

• Member of the Enforcement Forum.

Specific restrictions applicable to all members of ECHA bodies

Certain competing interests declared do not lead to a generic exclusion from appointment,

but may lead to a specific restriction from the voting in the decision making of the Agency

for a specific commercial entity or substance for a period of up to five years. On this basis,

an overview of the allowable and non-allowable interests is presented in annex 1.

Employment

Members of the ECHA bodies who have been employed by or had another professional

relationship (e.g. consultancy or legal advice) with a commercial entity, shall not be able to

participate in the voting of opinions or decisions which create or modify legal rights or

obligations of that commercial entity for a period of five years counted from the end of the

employment or other professional relationship.

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Membership of governing boards and permanent scientific advisory bodies

Members of the ECHA bodies who have been member of a governance board or permanent

scientific advisory body of a commercial entity, shall not be able to participate in the voting

of opinions or decisions which create or modify legal rights or obligations of that commercial

entity for a period of five years counted from the end of the membership.

Investments and intellectual property

Members of the ECHA bodies who hold current investments above 10.000 EUR (or giving

right to 5% or more of voting rights) in a specific commercial entity or intellectual property

in a specific commercial entity manufacturing, importing or supplying substances or

mixtures subject to the authority of the Agency, shall not be able to participate in the voting

of the opinion- or decision making with regard to that substance or commercial entity for as

long as the investment or intellectual property is kept.1

Research funding

Members of the ECHA bodies who receive any research funding above 25% of the total

research budget from a specific commercial entity shall not be able to participate in the

voting of opinions or decisions which create or modify legal rights or obligations of that

commercial entity for a period of five years counted from the end of the funding.

Other competing interests declared

Other competing interests declared are assessed case by case and mitigating measures and

ad hoc restrictions to participate in the decision making are imposed by the chairperson of

the respective ECHA body.

Expert witnesses

As an exception to the rules laid down above, it may be possible that the specific expertise

of an expert is required despite the risk of a potential (perceived) conflict of interest, e.g.

due to the very specific expertise required or the unavailability of other experts. In such

cases, the member of an ECHA body concerned shall not participate to the voting on the

opinion or decision, but may be heard as an expert witness.

1 For the members of the ECHA bodies, the ECHA management, the Accounting Officer and the Chairpersons of the Committees, current investments above 10.000 EUR (or giving right to 5% or more of voting rights) are even generic cooling off criteria (exclusion criteria) that prevent appointment. It is to be noted however, that a zero tolerance policy for financial investments would not be feasible

for ECHA due to the fact that chemicals are everywhere and any manufacturing company is a potential downstream user of chemicals and thus a potential duty holder towards the Agency, e.g. going from shoe manufacturers to furniture to cars. The ECHA threshold is aligned with Commission decision C(2016)3301 final of 30.5.2016 establishing horizontal rules on the creation and operation of Commission expert groups.

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3.2.2. Identifying risk levels and mitigating measures for competing interests

declared

Board of Appeal (see also Work Instruction (WIN-BOA-010) Conflict of Interests checks)

The annual declarations of the Board of Appeal members are monitored by its Chair. The

Chairman’s declarations are monitored by the longest serving member of the Board of

Appeal.

Specific, case-related declarations by a member of the Board of Appeal are assessed by the

other Board of Appeal members, who shall decide as to the action to be taken.

If a member of the Board of Appeal considers that because of a conflict of interests he/she

must not take part in the specific legal proceedings, he/she shall inform the Board of Appeal

accordingly. The Chairman may replace that member by an alternate.

Likewise, members of the Board of Appeal may be objected to by any party to the appeal

proceedings on the grounds of possible conflicts of interest. In this situation, the Board of

Appeal shall decide as to the action to be taken without the participation of the member

concerned. For the purpose of taking this decision, the member concerned shall be replaced

by an alternate (see Article 90(5)-(7) of the REACH Regulation).

Management Board, Committees and Forum

Members who have not submitted the annual declaration of interest shall not take part in

meetings of the ECHA body and its working groups or decisions by written procedure.

Upon receipt of the annually updated declaration of (competing) interests, the chairperson

of each ECHA body, with the assistance of the ECHA secretariat, shall identify one of the

below risk levels for each of the competing interests declared by the members of his/her

respective ECHA body:

• A (“interest cleared”): no competing interests declared or cleared as not relevant to

the work of respective ECHA body

When no competing interests are declared at all or the declared competing interest is

classified as not relevant to the work of the respective ECHA body, e.g. because it falls

outside the regulatory field of activity of ECHA, it is given the risk level A.

All interests declared in a public organisation (body established under public law of a

Member State serving a public interest) that is solely financed with public resources shall

also be given the risk level A.

Mitigating measures: None. All competing interests that receive the risk level A are

considered as not relevant and it clears the respective expert to work on any task assigned

to the respective ECHA body, unless he/she has other competing interests that are classified

with a B or C risk level.

However, public sector experts that have earlier contributed to the same case at Member

State level may be at risk of being put in a position of conflict of opinion when asked by

ECHA to review this earlier work. Therefore, members of the ECHA bodies may, where

appropriate, be asked to refrain from voting on proposals for opinion or decision that they

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have contributed to themselves or that are otherwise stemming from the Member State that

has nominated or appointed them.

• B (“interests require ad hoc assessment”): competing interest may be relevant to

the work of the respective ECHA body under certain specific circumstances

For competing interests declared in the field of “research funding” below 25% of the total

research budget; interests in “interest groups”; “other membership, affiliation or position”;

“other relevant information” and “interests held by close family members” the identification

of potential conflicts of interest can only be performed ad hoc, depending on the exact

details and circumstances of the case.

Mitigating measures: the competing interests covered by this risk level have to be reviewed

before each meeting against the agenda of such meeting and/or declared ad hoc by the

experts themselves in a specific oral declaration at the start of each meeting (recorded).

Depending on the exact details and circumstances of the case and based on the following

criteria, a decision is made by the chairperson on the possible application of an ad hoc

restriction:

o Direct interest (e.g. in the company/substance concerned) or indirect interest

(e.g. interest of spouse, interest in competitor substance, interest is sector-

wide but not related to one company, etc.);

o Amount/percentage of the research funding (below 25%) stemming from a

party with an interest in the outcome of the regulatory processes of ECHA;

o Relevance of the membership, affiliation or position for the regulatory activity

under discussion;

o Role of the individual concerned in the regulatory process;

o Etc.

When a restriction is applied, the chairperson shall decide on the appropriate level of

participation. This applies accordingly for the cases of written procedures in ECHA bodies.

As a minimum, such person shall not participate in any voting on the relevant agenda point

(see Article 88(3) of the REACH Regulation). Such person shall also not transfer his/her

voting right by proxy to another member. This does not preclude the replacement by an

alternate. The member concerned shall also not be appointed as (co-)rapporteur for a

particular case if he/she indicates any conflicting interests (see Article 87(1) of the REACH

Regulation).

Additionally, where further steps are deemed necessary, the chair shall at least have at

his/her disposal any of the following instruments to mitigate the issue:

o The member concerned can participate in the discussions but shall not

participate in the final deliberations on the relevant agenda point;

o The member concerned shall not participate in the discussions or final

deliberations on the relevant agenda point;

o The member concerned is to leave the room for the duration of the relevant

agenda point;

o The member concerned shall participate only as an expert witness in order

to testify and give specialist advice on a specific issue by providing

information and replying to any questions;

o In the case that an alternate can be appointed in the pertinent ECHA body,

the member concerned may be replaced by his/her alternate for the

relevant agenda point;

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o Where the Chair is concerned, he/she is to be replaced for the relevant

agenda point.

• C (“interest leads to specific restriction”): competing interest covered by a specific

cooling off period

When the declared competing interest is covered by one of the specific restrictions described

under chapter 3.2.1. above, it is given the risk level C.

Mitigating measures: for the competing interest covered by such a specific cooling off period,

the expert cannot vote in the opinion- or decision making on this specific substance or

company for a duration of five years.

For the competing interests declared orally at the beginning of a meeting, on the basis of

the type and nature of the potential conflict identified, the chairperson shall decide on the

appropriate level of participation, based on the same criteria and using the same

instruments as indicated above for interests with risk level B.

3.2.3. Mitigating measures for conflicts of interest of a general nature and breach

of trust

Any false declaration, wilful omission or refusal to declare interests or any other failure to

comply with this procedure may be seen as a breach of trust towards the Agency. The same

applies for any persistent conflict of interest which seriously hampers the functioning of the

ECHA body.

The respective chair of the ECHA body shall inform the Executive Director of the Agency of

any suspected breach and can decide on remedial actions. In case the remedial actions do

not bring the expected outcome, the chair in consultation with the Executive Director shall

send a formal notification to the Appointing Authority2 stating the nature of the problem.

The respective Appointing Authority is responsible for adopting any formal decision as a

consequence of a (potential) conflict of interest when they are informed of a situation which

may be detrimental to the Agency. Such decision may vary from a letter of reprimand to

the request or duty to resign or the revocation of the nomination / appointment. The

nominating authority shall be consulted before any such formal decision is taken.

The members of the Board of Appeal may not be removed from office unless there are

serious grounds and only by decision of the Commission, after obtaining the opinion of the

Management Board.

2 For the Management Board the appointing authority is either the Council of the European Union (for the members nominated by the Member States), the Commission or the Parliament (Article 79

of the REACH Regulation). The appointing authority for the Member State Committee, the Biocidal Products Committee and the Forum are the respective Member States (Articles 85(3) and 86 of the REACH Regulation and Article 75(2) of the BPR), while for the Board of Appeal, the Committee for Risk Assessment and the Committee for Socio-economic Analysis the appointing authority is the ECHA Management Board or the Committee in the case of co-opted members.

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In case the Executive Director is not satisfied with the remedies put in place by the chair or

by the Appointing Authority, he/she shall inform the ECHA body concerned of this fact in its

next meeting and have it noted in the minutes of the meeting.

Anyone affected by a decision of the chair of an ECHA body to implement remedial actions

can request the Chair of the Management Board for a review of such decision. The Chair of

the Management Board, in consultation with the Executive Director, shall decide on the

follow-up, with the possibility to consult the Conflicts of Interest Advisory Committee.

3.3. After the end of the mandate/employment

Post-employment declarations

Members of the ECHA bodies, staff members of the Agency, members of networks or expert

groups, observers and third parties working with the Agency shall be required, even after

their duties have ceased, not to disclose information of the kind covered by the duty of

professional secrecy (see e.g. Article 105 of the REACH Regulation).

If a member of an ECHA body intends to be engaged (either solicited or not) in occupational

activities (employment, consultancy, membership of a governing or permanent scientific

advisory board) during the term of the mandate the member shall immediately inform the

chairperson and secretariat of the respective ECHA body. This duty applies (irrespective if

a contract has already been signed or not and the activity is paid or unpaid and applies to

occupational activities, with a commercial entity with an interest in the regulatory field of

activity of the Agency or an association or other body (except a body established under

public law of a Member State serving a public interest) which can be considered as an

interest group with an interest in the field of chemicals management. Taking into account

also the generic exclusion criteria (see chapter 3.2.1.), the Agency will then fully restrict

the member from further involvement in the activities of the ECHA body from the date of

notification. The Appointing (and nominating) Authority will be informed by the Agency that

the member can no longer be involved in the activities of the ECHA body.

3.4. Additional controls

Ex-post controls

The respective secretariat of each ECHA body shall verify the completeness of the annual

declarations submitted by the members of the ECHA bodies and may undertake sample

checks to guarantee their accuracy and veracity.

On a regular basis the ECHA Secretariat shall undertake a number of ex-post reviews of

conflict of interest checks performed. To that end, it shall verify for a number of randomly

selected case files whether conflict of interest checks were performed according to this

procedure and its implementing rules.

An ex-post review shall be mandatory with regard to the concerned case file(s) when an

actual conflict of interest is discovered. Similarly, if the person concerned by an established

breach of trust was involved in an opinion- or decision-making procedure, the Agency may

carry out an ex-post review of the person's activities and contributions to the Agency's

output.

3.5. Further implementation

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As the legal representative of the Agency and responsible for the daily management of the

Agency, the Executive Director shall adopt implementing rules to this procedure, containing

the detailed rules for preventing and handling conflicts of interest. He/she shall regularly

report on the implementation of the procedure to the Management Board and in the annual

activity report of the Agency.

The ECHA bodies shall include detailed provisions for the implementation of this procedure

into their respective Rules of Procedures, Codes of Conduct and working procedures. Where

necessary and if applicable, the chair may decide to impose the same requirements on the

regular members of working groups established by the respective ECHA bodies.

4. Flowchart

N/A

5. Definitions

Term or abbreviation Definition

“Active” membership of or

affiliation to an organisation

Active membership of or involvement in any organisation relevant to

the regulatory field of activity of ECHA, other than a governing body or scientific advisory body. This shall in particular concern membership of interest groups (i.e. organisations engaged in activities carried out with the objective of directly or indirectly

influencing the formulation or implementation of policy and decision- making processes of the Agency). However, membership of a religious group, a political party, a trade union or comparable entity

does not need to be declared. Scientific societies and similar professional associations, not engaged in lobbying activities, are also excluded.

Active membership or involvement shall include the making of donations beyond the regular membership fee; active participation to events or other contributions to activities; active involvement in

the internal working of the organisation; et cetera.

Breach of trust Any false declaration, wilful omission or refusal to declare interests or any other failure to comply with the agency's conflict of interest policy.

Close family members The persons forming a household with the person making the

declaration of interest (i.e. spouse, partner, and/or dependent children, as well as other relatives under the care of the members of the household).

CoIAC Conflicts of Interest Advisory Committee

Commercial entity Includes any commercial business, consultancy, research institute or other enterprise, whose funding is significantly derived from commercial sources. It also includes independent own commercial businesses, law offices, consultancies or other.

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Term or abbreviation Definition

Conflict of interest There is a conflict of interest where the impartiality and objectivity of a decision, opinion or recommendation of the Agency, including its bodies, is or might in the public perception be compromised by an interest held by, or entrusted to, an individual working for the Agency.

More specifically, this means that a conflict of interest can arise if private interests of those involved in the activities of ECHA interfere with the work of the Agency and its duty to take impartial and objective decisions in the public interest. A conflict of interest

situation can also exist if personal interests are perceived by others as interfering with the work of ECHA and, thus, undermining the public’s trust in the integrity of the Agency and its work.

According to Article 61 of the EU Financial Regulation a conflict of interests exists where the impartial and objective exercise of the functions of a financial actor or other person is compromised for reasons involving family, emotional life, political or national affinity, economic interest or any other direct or indirect personal interest.

ECHA body The ECHA bodies shall include the Management Board, the Member State Committee, the Risk Assessment Committee, the Committee for Socio-economic Analysis, the Biocidal Products Committee, the Enforcement Forum and the Board of Appeal.

ECHA Secretariat The ECHA Secretariat works under the leadership of the Executive Director and provides technical, scientific and administrative support

for the Committees and the Forum and ensures appropriate coordination between them. It shall also undertake the work required of the Agency under the procedures for pre-registration, registration and evaluation as well as preparation of guidance, database maintenance and information provision (Article 76(1)(g) of the REACH Regulation).

Employment, consultancy, legal representation or advice

All forms of employment (also self-employment), part-time and full- time, either paid or unpaid, in any organisation (profit or non-profit, public or private) whose activities fall within the regulatory field of activity of ECHA.

Consultancy, legal representation or advice within the regulatory field of activity of ECHA, regardless of whether they charge a fee or

not, is to be considered as well.

Intellectual property These are the rights granted to creators and owners of works that are the result of human intellectual creativity and that pertain to a domain falling within the regulatory field of activity of ECHA. These can be publications or can be in the industrial, scientific and artistic domain. They can be in the form of an invention, a manuscript, a

suite of software, or a business name (e.g. copyrights, trademarks, patents, et cetera). Proprietary know-how in a substance, technology or process can also be relevant.

Investment Any financial interest in undertakings which are subject to the authority of ECHA or which have dealings with ECHA, including the

holding of stocks and shares, stock options, equity, bonds, and/or partnership interest in the capital of such an undertaking. This

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Term or abbreviation Definition

includes ’financial interests’ or ‘investments’ in a subsidiary of the said undertaking or in a commercial entity in which the said undertaking holds capital.

Partnerships in law-firms or other managerial stakes are to be considered as well.

However, the holding of financial interest through an investment fund, pension fund and/or interests in non-nominal unit trusts or similar arrangements would not, in principle, need to be declared, provided that these investments are broadly diversified, and the

individual has no influence on their financial management.

Membership of a governing

body or equivalent structure

Any participation in the internal decision-making (e.g. board

membership, directorship) of a public or private organisation or commercial entity operating in the regulatory field of activity of ECHA.

For this purpose, the fact of whether this activity is remunerated or not is irrelevant.

Membership of a scientific advisory body or equivalent structure

Any participation in the works of a scientific advisory body operating in the regulatory field of activity of ECHA with a right to vote on the outputs of that entity (e.g. voting on scientific output adopted by that entity).

For this purpose, the fact of whether this activity is remunerated or not is irrelevant.

Organisation Governmental, international and non-profit organisations active in the regulatory field of activity of ECHA, as well as interest groups (i.e. organisations and self-employed individuals engaged in activities carried out with the objective of directly or indirectly influencing the formulation or implementation of policy and decision- making processes of the Agency.

Process owner A process owner is a person (staff member of the ECHA Secretariat) designated by the Executive Director, responsible for the efficient and effective functioning of the process and has the necessary authority to take action or make decisions with an impact on the process performance. In general, the process owner ensures that proper action is taken with respect to the implementation,

maintenance, control and improvement of the process.

Research funding Any funding for research provided by a private or public entity, including grants, rents, sponsorships and fellowships and received in a personal capacity or via the research entity to which one belongs (as long as it is related to projects to which the declarant has or had direct links) and falling within the regulatory field of activity of ECHA.

Non-monetary support is also envisaged (e.g. equipment, facilities, research assistants, paid travel to meetings, et cetera).

6. Records

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Record name Security level Comments

Declarations of interest and commitment of members of ECHA bodies

Public

Declaration of confidentiality of members of ECHA bodies

Restricted

Specific declarations of interest related to a point on the agenda of a meeting of

an ECHA body, as recorded in the minutes

Public

7. References

Associated document code Document name

Regulation (EC) No 771/2008 Commission Regulation (EC) No 771/2008 of 1 August 2008 laying down the rules of organisation and procedure of the Board of Appeal of the European Chemicals Agency

Management Board Decision 10/2021, ref. MB/10/2021

Rules of Procedure for the Committee for Risk Assessment

Management Board Decision

11/2021, ref. MB/10/2021

Rules of Procedure for the Committee for Socio-economic Analysis

MB/33/2020 final Rules of Procedure for the Management Board

Management Board Decision 09/2021, ref. MB/10/2021

Rules of Procedure for the Member State Committee

MB/25/2013 final Rules of Procedure for the Biocidal Products Committee

MB/34/2020 final Rules of Procedure for the Forum for Exchange of Information on Enforcement

ED-0035.01 Code of conduct for observers at ECHA meetings

MB Decision 22/2023, ref. doc.

MB/19/2023

Code of Conduct of the Management Board

ED/08/2013 General Principles and Guidance for Committee Members of the European Chemicals Agency

ED/43/2013 General Principles and Guidance for members of the Forum for

Exchange of Information on Enforcement of the European Chemicals Agency

ED/88/2022 ECHA Code of conduct for case owners of evaluation draft decisions as observers at meetings of the Member State Committee (MSC)

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Associated document code Document name

ED/104/2013 Code of conduct for applicants participating in the Biocidal Products Committee and its Working Groups

BoA/01/2018 Code of conduct of the members of the Board of Appeal of the European Chemicals Agency as regards its alternate and additional

members

BoA/01/2023 Code of conduct of the members of the Board of Appeal of the European Chemicals Agency who are staff of the Agency

8. Annexes

Annex 1 – Overview of allowable and non-allowable interests

Annex 2 – Generic exclusion criteria for key positions

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Annex 1 – Overview of allowable and non-allowable interests

Full exclusion applied (before appointment/employment)

Specific restriction applied for 5 years for specific company concerned (during

mandate/employment)

Allowable interests: no exclusion nor restriction

Interests subject to case-by-case assessment

External experts ECHA staff

Management Board

members

Committees and Forum members

Additional and alternate members of the Board of

Appeal

Regular members of the Board of Appeal –

ECHA managers – Accounting Officer –

Committee chairpersons

Other ECHA staff

Non-allowable interests

Current employment (in a position of relevant importance) by, or holding a position in a governing body or permanent scientific advisory body (whether paid or unpaid) of, a commercial enterprise with an interest in the regulatory field of activity of the Agency.

Under the Staff Regulations for EU officials, all ECHA staff members have to receive the approval of the appointing authority for any outside activity or assignment, regardless whether the activity is paid or unpaid.

Current active membership of, or employment by (in a position of relevant

importance), an association or other body (except a body established under public law serving a public interest) which can be considered an interest group with an interest in the field of chemicals management.

Current personal contractual obligations to perform work for a commercial entity or an interest group with an interest in the regulatory field of activity of the Agency.

Current investments above 10.000 EUR (or giving right to 5% or more of voting rights) in a commercial entity manufacturing, importing, supplying or placing on the market substances or mixtures subject to the authority of the Agency.

Current investments above 10.000 EUR (or giving right to 5% or more of voting rights) in a commercial entity (with regard to that commercial entity for as long as the investment is kept)

Past employment by (in a position of relevant importance), or holding a position in a governing body or permanent scientific advisory body (whether paid or unpaid) of, a commercial enterprise with an interest in the regulatory field of activity of the Agency within the past two years when the individual concerned has a potential conflict of interest of a general nature that would lead to multiple exclusions of the individual from the meetings of the ECHA body concerned, from rapporteurship or from the decision-making of the Board of Appeal.

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Past active membership of, or employment by, an association or other body (except a body established under public law serving a public interest) which can be

considered an interest group with an interest in the field of chemicals management within the past two years when the individual concerned has a potential conflict of interest of a general nature that would lead to multiple exclusions of the individual from the meetings of the ECHA body concerned, from rapporteurship or from the decision-making of the Board of Appeal.

For candidates for the position of Accounting Officer, Executive Director or member of the Board of Appeal:

Close family relationship with any of the persons currently occupying one of these same positions or of the position of member of the Management Board or Executive Director or senior manager (Director) at ECHA.

Past employment or another professional relationship (e.g. consultancy or legal advice) with a commercial entity for a period of five years counted from the end of the employment or other professional relationship (with regard to opinions or decisions which create or modify legal rights or obligations of that commercial entity)

Past membership of a governance board or permanent scientific advisory body with a commercial entity for a period of five years counted from the end of the membership (with regard to opinions or decisions which create or modify legal rights or obligations of that commercial entity)

Current intellectual property in a specific commercial entity or substance (with regard to that substance or commercial entity for as long as the intellectual property is kept)

Research funding above 25% of the total research budget received from a specific company for a period of five years counted from the end of the funding (with regard to opinions or decisions which create or modify legal rights or obligations of that commercial entity)

Allowable interests

Interests outside the regulatory field of activity of ECHA, with no restrictions.

Past interests, for which a period of 5 years or more has passed, with no restrictions.

Current and past employment by, or holding a position in a governing body or permanent scientific advisory body (whether paid or unpaid) of, a public organisation (including e.g. national competent authorities).3

Current investments below 10,000 EUR per commercial entity, with no restrictions (except if these investments would amount to voting rights of 5% or more in such commercial entity).

Current non-active membership/affiliation or past active membership/affiliation in an organisation relevant to the regulatory field of activity of ECHA for which a period of five years has passed, with no restrictions. Current and past active membership or affiliation in organisations not relevant to the regulatory field of activity of ECHA, with no restrictions.

3 This includes organisations solely financed with public resources. However, experts that have

earlier contributed to the same case at Member State level may be at risk of being put in a position of conflict of opinion when asked by ECHA to review this earlier work. Therefore, members of ECHA bodies may, where appropriate, be asked to refrain from voting on proposals for opinion or decision that they have contributed to themselves or that are otherwise stemming from the Member State that has nominated or appointed them.

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Past interests of members of the same household, with no restrictions.

Interests subject to a case-by-case analysis, taking into account all the specific elements of the case

All current and past interests related to research funding below 25%, memberships, affiliation and positions and close personal relationships (beyond those with the members of household).

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Annex 2 – Generic exclusion criteria for candidates for membership in the ECHA bodies and for key positions in the ECHA Secretariat4

Group 1: Candidates for membership in the Committee for Risk Assessment, the

Committee for Socio-economic Analysis or additional or alternate members of the Board of

Appeal have to comply with the generic exclusion criteria a) -e) (and for some positions also

criteria f)) below to be considered for appointment by the Management Board.

Group 2: For the candidates for membership in the Management Board, the Member State Committee,

the Biocidal Products Committee, the Enforcement Forum (group 2), with the exception of the

Commission when appointing the three Management Board members to represent interested parties,

the relevant appointing authorities are invited to respect the ECHA Conflict of Interest Policy and to

adhere to the below guidelines for exclusion a) – e) when appointing members to such ECHA bodies.

Group 3: candidates for the position of Chairmen of the ECHA Committees (MSC, RAC, SEAC, BPC),

Accounting Officer or for the position of Executive Director, Director, Head of Unit or full-time member

of the Board of Appeal have to comply with the generic exclusion criteria d) – e) (and for some positions

also criteria f) ) below to be considered for appointment. The first three criteria a) -c) are not relevant

for the candidates for the above positions and do not apply, as they become ECHA staff members and

they will have to comply with the Staff Regulations for EU officials, and in particular the obligation to

receive the approval of the appointing authority for any outside activity.

a. Candidates being currently employed by (in a position of relevant

importance), whether paid or unpaid, a commercial entity with an

interest in the regulatory field of activity of the Agency or an association or

other body (except a body established under public law of a Member State

serving a public interest) which can be considered as an interest group with

an interest in the field of chemicals management shall not be appointed.

Appointed members of the Committees of the Agency shall resign from the

Committee before they enter into service in any such enterprise.

b. Candidates being an active member of, or holding a position in a governing

body or permanent5 scientific advisory body of a commercial entity with an

interest in the regulatory field of activity of the Agency or an association or

other body (except a body established under public law of a Member State

serving a public interest) which can be considered as an interest group

4 The scope of the generic exclusion criteria shall be limited to duty-holders and interest groups subject to the authority of ECHA or active in the regulatory field of activity of ECHA as appropriate

taking into account the mandate of the respective ECHA body. The generic exclusion criteria apply equally to the interests held by members of the candidates’ household if significant interests are at stake that would potentially lead to multiple exclusions of the candidate from the meetings of the ECHA body, the decision making of the Agency or from rapporteurship. 5 As opposed to ad hoc or temporary project boards

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with an interest in the field of chemicals management shall not be

appointed. Appointed members shall resign from the Committee before

they enter into service in any such association.

c. Candidates who personally have contractual obligations to perform work

for a commercial entity or interest group with an interest in the regulatory

field of activity of the Agency after having been appointed as members,

shall (a) withdraw from current contracts and (b) refrain from entering into

any new contracts with such commercial entities or organisations.

d. Candidates who currently hold investments above 10.000 EUR in a

commercial entity manufacturing, importing or supplying substances or

mixtures subject to the authority of the Agency, including holding of stocks

and shares, stock options, equity, bonds, partnership interest in the capital

of such undertaking, one of its subsidiaries or a company in the capital

of which it has a holding or entitling to a voting right of 5% or more in

such commercial entity, shall not be appointed. This is without prejudice to

financial interests held through an investment fund, pension fund and/or

interests in non-nominal unit trusts or similar arrangements, provided that

these investments are broadly diversified, and the candidate has no

influence on their financial management.

e. Candidates who were within the past two years employed by (in a position

of relevant importance), or held a position in a governing body or

permanent scientific advisory body (whether paid or unpaid) of a commercial

entity with an interest in the regulatory field of activity of the Agency or an

association or other body (except a body established under public law of a

Member State serving a public interest) which can be considered as an

interest group with an interest in the field of chemicals management (or an

active member thereof) shall not be appointed when the candidate has a

potential conflict of interest of a general nature that would potentially lead

to multiple exclusions of the individual from the meetings of the ECHA body,

the decision making of the Agency or from rapporteurship.

f. Candidates for the position of Accounting Officer or Executive Director, who

are close family members6 of any of the persons currently occupying one of

these same positions or of a member of the Management Board or a senior

manager (Director) at ECHA, shall not be appointed.

Candidates for the position of member of the Board of Appeal, who are close

family members of the persons occupying the position of Executive Director,

6 Close family members are persons forming a household with the person making the declaration of interest (i.e. spouse, partner, and/or dependent children, as well as other relatives under the care of the members of the household).

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senior manager (Director) at ECHA or of a member of the Management

Board, shall not be appointed.

1 (1)

Telakkakatu 6, P.O. Box 400, FI-00121 Helsinki, Finland | Tel. +358 9 686180 | echa.europa.eu

ANNEX 1: Expiring MSC Memberships by 31 December 2025

Country Name Role Organisation/

MSCAs

End of

Term

Portugal ALMEIDA Ines MSC member Portuguese Environment Agency 12/08/2025

Croatia KOVAČEVIĆ Tajana MSC Alternate member Ministry of Health 13/08/2025

Slovenia HUMAR-JURIČ Tatjana MSC member

Chemicals Office of the Republic of

Slovenia 11/11/2025

Sweden MALKIEWICZ Katarzyna MSC member Swedish Chemicals Agency 31/12/2025

Annex 2

1(5)

Helsinki, 16 April 2025

Information on tasks and expected expertise for the

Member State Committee

1 Introduction

The Member State Committee (MSC) of the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) is

responsible for resolving potential divergences of opinions on draft decisions proposed by

ECHA or the Member States (MSs) on dossier and substance evaluation and on proposals

for identification of substances of very high concern. Furthermore, MSC gives its opinion

to ECHA on the substances to be put on the Community Rolling Action Plan for evaluation

and on the recommendation of priority substances to be included on the authorisation list

(Annex XIV). MSC thus has an important role in the key REACH P0F

1 P processes concerning

evaluation and authorisation.

MSC is composed of members appointed directly by each of the 27 Member States and

the three EEA-EFTA countries. Only the members appointed by MSs have the right to

vote. Alternate members may also be appointed by the MSs.

This document has been developed to support MSs in appointing the most suitable

member to MSC or renewing the membership of the current member by outlining the

expectations of expertise for the MSC members. Further background on MSC’s role, tasks

and operation is provided in Appendices. Members are expected to dedicate around 30%

of their work time to MSC.

2 Expectations of expertise for the MSC members

The REACH Regulation makes it clear that members of the Committees must possess the

necessary qualifications in order to allow the Committees to meet the high expectations

put on them.

To deal with the different tasks referred to above, a range of expertise is required within

MSC to ensure that all aspects concerning these issues can be addressed.

Given the complexity of the tasks, the members of MSC need to have relevant

experience and expertise in the many science areas for which MSC is responsible.

Examples of areas of discussion are: mutagenicity, reproductive toxicity, sensitization,

endocrine disruption for both human health and the environment, persistence,

bioaccumulation, aquatic/terrestrial/sediment toxicity, environment and human exposure

and toxicokinetics. Familiarity with New Approach Methodologies (NAMs), neurotoxicity

and/or immunotoxicity would also be an asset. Examples of different chemistries are:

UVCBs, nanomaterials, surfactants, mobile substances. Ideally, they should themselves

cover one or several areas of expertise at expert level, and for a number of other areas

they should either have some experience themselves and/or have access to in-depth

expertise. Moreover, the members should have good understanding of the REACH

requirements and regulatory science as well as have sufficient resources available for the

Committee work. They should also possess the necessary negotiating skills to solve any

divergences of views in an efficient manner.

1 Regulation (EC) No 1907/2006 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 18 December 2006 concerning the Registration,

Evaluation, Authorisation, and Restriction of Chemicals (REACH)

2(5)

Each of the members of MSC should possess, or have access to, the necessary expertise

for drawing up opinions and unanimous agreements concerning:

• evaluation of testing proposals or requirements for additional information required

under dossier evaluation;

• compliance checks and examination of additional information required under

dossier or substance evaluation;

• community rolling action plan for substances which could constitute a risk to

human health or the environment; and

• identification of substances of very high concern and prioritising them for

authorisation.

MSC is also expected to revise and further develop methodology regarding its field of

competence and to give input to guidance updates.

To ensure sufficient coverage of all required expertise areas, members may be

accompanied to the meetings by advisors or experts.

In accordance with Article 85(6) of the REACH Regulation, MSs are obliged to support the

MSC members by providing adequate scientific and technical resources to them. ECHA

reimburses the travel and accommodation expenses and pays subsistence allowances to

the members.

3 Further appointment considerations

In addition to experience in one or more of the areas listed above, MSs are requested to

give preference to candidates who possess significant experience at least in one,

preferably several, of the following areas:

• Experience in national and EU chemicals management policy;

• Overall good knowledge and understanding of the legal requirements of the

REACH Regulation, its policy objectives and the balance between these objectives;

• Experience in drafting regulatory or legislative decisions and to defend these in

front of expert audiences;

• Experience in carrying out scientific and/or regulatory risk assessments;

• International experience in discussing chemical hazard or risk assessment; and/or

• Experience in the EU committee work on chemicals.

In addition to the qualifications and expertise of members, the functioning of MSC

requires that members attend the meetings which are held in Helsinki, Finland at ECHA’s

premises on a regular basis. This includes preparation time for the plenary meetings,

which, depending on the number of dossiers, can be considerable. MSC members can be

called upon to act as rapporteur to prepare a draft MSC opinion, to participate in other

MSC activities such as working groups, and share the responsibility to join in the debate

and provide interventions in plenary sessions of MSC. Additionally, a considerable

demand on a MSC member’s time is stemming from written procedures used for

agreement seeking in between plenary meetings. MSC members should be entitled to

dedicate sufficient working time to MSC activities - at around 30% of their time.

Plenary meetings of MSC are held 4 times per year, typically for two to four full days.

Some of those meetings may be held remotely. MSC has, since its start in February 2008

until April 2025, held 89 meetings. The actual number and duration of meetings will

depend on the workload, on the operating procedures and on the output of any potential

working groups.

3(5)

Appendix 1: Composition, role and tasks of the Member State Committee

MSC is composed of members appointed directly by each of the 27 Member States and

the three EEA-EFTA countries. Only the members appointed by MSs have the right to

vote.

In order to ensure smooth functioning and decision making in MSC, two specific

arrangements are in place with MSC: 1) MSs may appoint an alternate member who can

replace the appointed member when one is not in attendance at the meeting or available

to respond to requests in written consultation. 2) MSC has agreed on arrangement of

proxy vote in case a member with voting right or their alternate is absent from a

meeting.

In accordance with Article 77(1) of the Regulation, the task of ECHA is to provide the

best possible scientific and technical advice on questions related to chemicals. MSC plays

an important role to achieve this: The Committee has a conciliatory role, aiming i.e. to

solve divergences of opinions and reach agreement amongst Member States' authorities

on specific issues which require a harmonised approach, thus allowing ECHA to take

decisions efficiently.

The tasks of MSC are described in REACH in Art. 76(1)(e). An overview of the MSC tasks

is provided below.

U1. Evaluation

MSC has an essential role in

Dossier evaluation:

• Seeking agreement when the examination of testing proposals or additional

information required under dossier evaluation results in draft decisions to which

amendments are proposed by MSs;

• Seeking agreement when the compliance check results in a draft decision to which

amendments are proposed by MSs;

Substance evaluation:

• Seeking agreement when a MS or ECHA has proposed to amend the draft decision on

substance evaluation;

• Providing an opinion on a draft update of the Community rolling action plan prepared

by the ECHA Secretariat for substances which could constitute a risk to human health

or the environment;

• Providing an opinion on whether or not to add a substance to the Community rolling

action plan following proposals from a MS; and

• Seeking agreement in cases where two or more MSs have expressed an interest in

evaluating the same substance.

Currently the tasks related to dossier and substance evaluation decision making form a

substantial workload for MSC.

U2. Authorisation

MSC has an essential role in:

• Seeking agreement on the identification of substances of very high concern to be

included on the candidate list (SVHCs) for potential inclusion in Annex XIV (list of

substances subject to authorisation); and

• Providing opinions on draft recommendations prepared by the ECHA Secretariat on

priority substances to be included in Annex XIV.

These will remain as regular tasks in the work program of MSC.

4(5)

In addition, the Executive Director of ECHA may request MSC to provide technical and

scientific support to improve cooperation between the Community, its MSs, international

organisations and third countries on scientific and technical issues relating to the safety

of substances, as well as active participation in technical assistance and capacity building

activities on sound management of chemicals in developing countries. MSC may also be

asked to draw up an opinion on any other aspects concerning the safety of substances on

their own, in preparations or in articles.

The work of MSC, including agendas and minutes of the meetings, may be consulted

from 3TUhttp://echa.europa.eu/web/guest/about-us/who-we-are/member-state-committee U3T

5(5)

Appendix 2 - Working procedures of the Committee

There are fixed, in some cases very short (30 days) deadlines for the delivery of the MSC

tasks. By default the majority of the cases that are brought to MSC are difficult in the

sense that there are diverging views among the MSs or comments have been made on

an issue. However, ECHA Secretariat provides MSC with all the necessary background

information to support it in its agreement seeking either in the form of a proposal for a

revised draft evaluation decision or otherwise.

In each case if an agreement is not found within the deadline, ECHA will refer the case to

the Commission decision making. However, MSC would have to adopt a view on the issue

and record any minority views.

The Rules of Procedure of MSC2 specify many aspects of the Committee’s operations, for

example procedures for delegating certain tasks to working groups and use of written

procedures. In addition, MSC has established specific working procedures for most of its

tasks3.

MSC is chaired by an ECHA staff member, Ms Katinka van der Jagt, supported by a

Committee Secretariat provided by ECHA. The Secretariat is in particular responsible for:

• organising the Committee meetings;

• co-ordinating work within the Agency and with the other ECHA Committees, and

promoting consistency of the decisions within and between the Committees;

• capturing generic approaches based on conclusions from MSC and informing

externals about the work and outputs of the MSC, such as meeting minutes and

opinions, and maintaining a Manual of Decisions and Opinions; and

• organising the follow-up of the MSC decisions.

2 MSC Rules of procedure may be consulted at the following link 3 The working procedures of MSC may be consulted at the following link in COMMITTEE'S PROCESSES

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Prevention and Management of potential Conflicts of Interest for members of ECHA bodies

1. Purpose

This procedure describes the duties of members of ECHA bodies to declare all competing

interests held by them and for the chairpersons of the respective ECHA bodies to assess

those competing interests and to put in place effective controls and to impose mitigating

measures where such interests carry a risk of turning into conflicts of interest.

2. Scope

This Procedure document (adopted by the Management Board on 21 June 2023:

Management Board Decision 19/2023, reference document MB/19/2023 final) applies to all

members, including co-opted and alternate members of the ECHA bodies, including the

Board of Appeal.

For the specific groups below, the general principles of this procedure equally apply, but

adaptations are made in view of their specific mandate:

Advisers and invited experts

The REACH Regulation provides that members of ECHA bodies may be accompanied by

advisers on scientific, technical or regulatory matters.

Invited experts are experts in technical or scientific fields who can, upon proposal of a

member or the Secretariat and in agreement with the ECHA body or with the chairperson

be invited by the Agency to participate for one or more points of the agenda in a meeting

of the ECHA body or its working groups.

In addition, REACH foresees that Member States shall transmit to the Agency the names

of experts who would be available to serve on working groups of the Committees.

This procedure applies in principle to all advisers and invited experts, however due to their

specific role, they do not have the same personal duties as members besides the duty to

make a specific declaration of interest at the meeting if such occurs.

Indeed, while advisers and invited experts may attend meetings of ECHA bodies, they do

not usually do so on a regular basis, they do not hold a vote, nor take up any other formal

role (e.g., rapporteurship) and therefore annual declaration of interest or other measures

are not considered necessary.

However, under certain circumstances, e.g., where a working group of an ECHA body is on

a more permanent basis staffed by advisers or invited experts, not being the formally

appointed members of the ECHA body, the chairperson may decide to apply parts of this

procedure (e.g., the duty to submit annual declarations of interest) in full to such advisers

or invited experts. Such solutions have been put in place for instance for the permanent

working groups of the Biocidal Products Committee and the RAC working group on the

Drinking Water Directive.

Besides the option available in certain ECHA bodies to appoint alternate members (who

have to comply with all duties under these procedures as other members), the rules of

procedure may provide that the members, when prevented from attending a meeting, can

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identify a person to attend the meeting on their behalf as invited expert or person of trust,

without voting rights. Such persons shall also declare potential conflicts of interest before

the start of the meeting, to be assessed by the chairperson.

Stakeholder observers

ECHA welcomes the attendance of observers of the stakeholder organisations at the

meetings of the Committees, the Forum and informal ECHA expert groups and networks

selected by the respective body, expert group or network. These stakeholder observers

have to comply with the Code of conduct for observers at ECHA meetings (ED-0035 of 18

December 2020).

Furthermore, the Rules of Procedure of an ECHA body may foresee the possibility to invite

case owners or applicants to participate in a meeting or part of it as observers. As these

case owner/applicant observers clearly are attending the meeting to defend the interests of

their organisation in a particular dossier, it is unnecessary that they make a declaration of

interest. Strict compliance with the applicable Code of conduct shall be enforced (see ECHA

Code of conduct for case owners of evaluation draft decisions as observers at meetings of

the Member State Committee (ED/88/2022) and ECHA Code of conduct for applicants

participating in the Biocidal Products Committee and its Working Groups (ED/104/2013).

3. Description

All members of ECHA bodies have the duty to declare all competing interests held by them

by submitting and keeping up-to-date an annual declaration of interest compliant with the

form FOR-0039 and submitting any specific declaration as required (see chapter 3.1).

The chairpersons of the respective ECHA bodies have the duty to assess all competing

interests declared and to put in place effective controls and to impose mitigating measures

where such interest carry a risk of turning into conflicts of interest (see chapter 3.2).

3.1. Step 1: Declaring all possible competing interests

3.1.1. Before the mandate/employment

All candidates for a position in the Agency are thoroughly screened before appointment.

For the members of the ECHA bodies, the pre-recruitment screening is based on the generic exclusion criteria as described in chapter 3.2.1 and annex 2. For this purpose, candidates for appointment as members of an ECHA body for which the Management Board is the Appointing Authority (i.e. the Board of Appeal, the Risk Assessment Committee and the Committee for Socio-economic Analysis) shall be requested to complete a wri t ten declaration of interest (based on FOR-0039) following their placement on the list of candidates by the Commission or the nomination by their respective Member State. This should allow the Management Board to analyse the declarations made, in order to take an informed decision on each appointment. For the positions in ECHA bodies for which ECHA is not the Appointing Authority (membership in the Management Board, the Member State Committee, the Biocidal Products Committee and the Enforcement Forum), the same criteria are applied as guidelines to which the relevant Appointing Authorities are invited to adhere.

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3.1.2. During the mandate/employment

Biographies

Due to the importance of ensuring transparency on their background, all members of the

ECHA bodies shall provide the Agency with a biography, containing their professional

qualifications and education, which shall be made public on the ECHA website.

The same duty shall apply for the Chairpersons of the ECHA Committees (MSC, RAC, SEAC,

BPC).

Specific declarations

At each meeting the Management Board members and the members of the Committees and

the Forum (and their advisors) and any experts participating in the meeting are explicitly

asked by the chair to declare any interests which could be considered to be prejudicial to

their independence with respect to any of the points on the agenda. Such conflicting

interests are recorded in the minutes together with the specific mitigating measures

imposed (see also chapter 3.2.2.) and made public.

When a Committee member is appointed as Rapporteur or Co-Rapporteur, he or she needs

to make for each case a written declaration of absence of conflict of interest in line with

Article 87(1) of the REACH Regulation. A member of a Committee is not appointed

rapporteur for a particular case if he/she indicates any interest that might be prejudicial to

the independent consideration of that case.

The members of the Board of Appeal are required to make an ad-hoc declaration for each

specific case before the allocation of that case to them.

Annual declarations

Procedure

According to Article 88(2) of the REACH Regulation, all members of the Management Board

and of the Committees and the Forum shall, when taking up their duties, make a written

declaration of interest which could be considered to be prejudicial to their independence.

Also all members of the Board of Appeal are required to make an annual declaration of

interest in writing.

The initial declarations are renewed annually. The secretariat of the respective ECHA body

is in contact with members in order to ensure that regular updates are provided. If at any

point in time changes occur to the situation of the member’s interests, he/she makes an

updated declaration without delay.

The respective secretariat of the ECHA body shall publish the declarations of interest on the

ECHA website.

Based on a decision by the chairperson, the same duty may apply to the core members of

working groups established under the auspices of one of these ECHA bodies (if no annual

declaration was already submitted/published for the same member).

Content

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All interests that may interfere with the work of the Agency and its duty to take impartial

and objective decisions in the public interest shall be declared. An affirmative answer in the

annual declaration does not automatically disqualify the individual concerned, but requires

the chair to have it screened in accordance with this Procedure, in order to determine if a

conflict of interest exists.

Timeframe: all current interests and those that existed during the last 5 years. One should

count 5 years from the date of submitting the declaration.

For interests held by close family members, investments and intellectual property rights,

only current interests need to be declared.

Family ties: all current interests held by any members of the declarant’s household

(spouse, partner and dependent children, as well as other relatives under the care of the

members of the household) should be declared.

The names of the members of the declarant’s household do not need to be declared and the

declaration shall be limited to the interests that the declarant is aware of to the best of

his/her knowledge.

The regulatory field of activity of ECHA: all interest that may interfere with the work of

the Agency shall be declared. This means that all interests in a commercial entity or other

organisation which is subject to the authority of ECHA (i.e. duty-holders under any of the

legislations under ECHA’s mandate) or which has dealings with ECHA shall be declared.

Only direct interests in duty-holders are considered and not interests in (potential)

competitors or (potential) co-registrants.

Confidential interests: when bound by a professional or contractual duty of secrecy, for

instance with regard to former clients represented (e.g. as lawyer or consultant), one shall

only declare the employment with the law firm or consultancy firm concerned. The declarant

shall then proactively make a specific declaration of absence of conflict of interest, each

time a task is assigned to him/her related to a former client operating in the regulatory field

of activity of the Agency. In some instance also the identity of substances worked on can

be considered confidential, in which case they do not need to be included.

Employment, consultancy, legal representation or advice

Employment is to be interpreted as covering all forms of employment (also self-

employment), part-time and full-time, either paid or unpaid, in any organisation (profit or

non-profit, public or private) whose activities fall within the regulatory field of activity of

ECHA.

Consultancy, legal representation or advice within the regulatory field of activity of ECHA,

regardless of whether they charge a fee or not, is to be considered as well. This also includes

the provision of an expert opinion or testimony for a commercial entity or other organisation,

as part of a regulatory, legislative or judicial process. Any contracts or collaborations with

ECHA should also be specified. As stated above, the obligation to declare shall not prejudice

any professional or contractual duty of secrecy with regard to the identity of (former) clients

or substances worked on.

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For members and invited experts of ECHA bodies, all current employment with a Member

State Competent Authority shall also be covered.

Information about subsidiaries/parent companies of a former employer shall be declared,

but only to the extent that such corporate links are known to the declarant.

Membership of a governing body, scientific advisory body or equivalent structure

Membership of a governing body is to be interpreted as any participation in the internal

decision-making (e.g. board membership, directorship) of a public or private organisation

or commercial entity operating in the regulatory field of activity of ECHA.

Participation in a scientific advisory body is to be interpreted as meaning that the person

concerned is participating or has participated in the works of a scientific advisory body

operating in the regulatory field of activity of ECHA with a right to vote on the outputs of

that entity (e.g. voting on scientific output adopted by that entity).

For this purpose the fact of whether this activity is remunerated or not is irrelevant.

Other membership, affiliation or position

This shall include active membership of or involvement in any organisation relevant to the

regulatory field of activity of ECHA, other than the above. This shall in particular concern

membership of interest groups (i.e. organisations engaged in activities carried out with the

objective of directly or indirectly influencing the formulation or implementation of policy and

decision-making processes of the Agency). However, membership of a religious group, a

political party, a trade union or comparable entity does not need to be declared. Scientific

societies and similar professional associations, who are not active in regulatory advice or

lobbying activities in the regulatory field of ECHA, are also excluded.

Active membership or involvement shall include the making of donations beyond the regular

membership fee; active participation to events or other contributions to activities; active

involvement in the internal working of the organisation; et cetera.

Public office or other positions should be interpreted as the holding of an office or other

position, paid or unpaid, where the declarant represents interests or defends an opinion in

the regulatory field of activity of ECHA.

Research funding

This includes any funding for research provided by a private or public entity, including

grants, rents, sponsorships and fellowships and received in a personal capacity or via the

research entity to which one belongs (as long as it is related to projects to which the

declarant has or had direct links) and falling within the regulatory field of activity of ECHA.

Non-monetary support is also envisaged (e.g. equipment, facilities, research assistants,

paid travel to meetings, et cetera). The declarant is requested to specify the estimated value

if possible.

Investments

A conflict of interest would arise if an individual working with ECHA were to handle a matter

or otherwise take part in a decision-making process (including through consultation)

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involving a commercial entity in which the person(s) concerned holds securities or otherwise

has a financial interest.

Consequently, the Agency has decided that the holding of a current financial interest of

more than 10,000 EUR per commercial entity is considered as such a substantial value that

it should be declared. In addition and notwithstanding their financial value, holding of

shares, stocks or comparable amounting to a voting right of 5 % or more in a company,

should be declared. Several investments in the same commercial entity made by different

persons in the same household shall be counted together for calculating the threshold.

However, several investments in different companies are not counted together for

calculating the threshold. Interests below the threshold are to be declared on a voluntary

basis. In view of frequent changes in the price value of such investments one shall update

the declaration when the price has been fixed for a certain period of time above the

threshold. The declarant is requested to specify the estimated value at the time of

submission.

The term ’financial interest’ or ‘investment’ shall mean any financial interest in undertakings

which are subject to the authority of ECHA or which have dealings with ECHA, including the

holding of stocks and shares, stock options, equity, bonds, and/or partnership interest in

the capital of such an undertaking. This includes ’financial interests’ or ‘investments’ in a

subsidiary of the said undertaking or in a commercial entity in which the said undertaking

holds capital.

Partnerships in law-firms or other managerial stakes are to be considered as well, if not

already covered under one of the other sections.

However, the holding of financial interest through an investment fund, pension fund and/or

interests in non-nominal unit trusts or similar arrangements would not, in principle, need to

be declared, provided that these investments are broadly diversified and the individual has

no influence on their financial management.

Intellectual property

These are the rights granted to creators and owners of works that are the result of human

intellectual creativity and that pertain to a domain falling within the regulatory field of

activity of ECHA. These can be publications or can be in the industrial, scientific and artistic

domain. They can be in the form of an invention, a manuscript, a suite of software, or a

business name (e.g. copyrights, trademarks, patents, et cetera). Proprietary know-how in

a substance, technology or process can also be relevant. The declarant is requested to

specify the estimated value at the time of submission if possible.

Other relevant information

In addition to the interests above, a declarant should declare any other interest or fact that

might prejudice their independence. These other elements may for instance include:

- relevant interests held beyond the past 5 years;

- close personal relationships (such as those with adult offspring, non dependent parents or

siblings, close personal friendships, et cetera) and interests held by such individuals;

- the delivery of speeches or training for a commercial entity or other organisation with an

interest in the regulatory field of activity of ECHA, regardless of whether any payment was

provided;

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- continuing rights of return to previous employment or positions and standing offers or

agreements about future employment;

- gifts received exceeding 50 EUR (including travel, hospitality or other forms of valuable

benefit).

3.2. Step 2: Effective controls for preventing conflicts of interests:

applying cooling off periods

Based on the annual and specific declarations, the chairpersons of the respective ECHA

bodies have the duty to assess all competing interests declared and to put in place

effective controls and to impose mitigating measures where such interests carry a risk

of turning into conflicts of interest.

3.2.1. Assessment criteria

Generic exclusion criteria applicable for key positions

For certain key positions for which ECHA is the Appointing Authority, it has adopted generic

exclusion criteria (see annex 2) with which candidates have to comply to be considered for

appointment, including for the position of:

• Chairperson of the Member State Committee, Committee for Risk Assessment and

Committee for Socio-economic Analysis;

• Member of the Agency’s Board of Appeal;

• Member of the Committee for Risk Assessment;

• Member of the Committee for Socio-economic Analysis.

For the positions for which ECHA is not the Appointing Authority the same criteria are applied

as guidelines (see annex 2) to which the relevant Appointing Authorities are invited to

adhere:

• Member of the Management Board (with the exception of the Commission when

appointing the three Management Board members to represent interested parties)

• Member of the Member State Committee;

• Member of the Biocidal Products Committee;

• Member of the Enforcement Forum.

Specific restrictions applicable to all members of ECHA bodies

Certain competing interests declared do not lead to a generic exclusion from appointment,

but may lead to a specific restriction from the voting in the decision making of the Agency

for a specific commercial entity or substance for a period of up to five years. On this basis,

an overview of the allowable and non-allowable interests is presented in annex 1.

Employment

Members of the ECHA bodies who have been employed by or had another professional

relationship (e.g. consultancy or legal advice) with a commercial entity, shall not be able to

participate in the voting of opinions or decisions which create or modify legal rights or

obligations of that commercial entity for a period of five years counted from the end of the

employment or other professional relationship.

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Membership of governing boards and permanent scientific advisory bodies

Members of the ECHA bodies who have been member of a governance board or permanent

scientific advisory body of a commercial entity, shall not be able to participate in the voting

of opinions or decisions which create or modify legal rights or obligations of that commercial

entity for a period of five years counted from the end of the membership.

Investments and intellectual property

Members of the ECHA bodies who hold current investments above 10.000 EUR (or giving

right to 5% or more of voting rights) in a specific commercial entity or intellectual property

in a specific commercial entity manufacturing, importing or supplying substances or

mixtures subject to the authority of the Agency, shall not be able to participate in the voting

of the opinion- or decision making with regard to that substance or commercial entity for as

long as the investment or intellectual property is kept.1

Research funding

Members of the ECHA bodies who receive any research funding above 25% of the total

research budget from a specific commercial entity shall not be able to participate in the

voting of opinions or decisions which create or modify legal rights or obligations of that

commercial entity for a period of five years counted from the end of the funding.

Other competing interests declared

Other competing interests declared are assessed case by case and mitigating measures and

ad hoc restrictions to participate in the decision making are imposed by the chairperson of

the respective ECHA body.

Expert witnesses

As an exception to the rules laid down above, it may be possible that the specific expertise

of an expert is required despite the risk of a potential (perceived) conflict of interest, e.g.

due to the very specific expertise required or the unavailability of other experts. In such

cases, the member of an ECHA body concerned shall not participate to the voting on the

opinion or decision, but may be heard as an expert witness.

1 For the members of the ECHA bodies, the ECHA management, the Accounting Officer and the Chairpersons of the Committees, current investments above 10.000 EUR (or giving right to 5% or more of voting rights) are even generic cooling off criteria (exclusion criteria) that prevent appointment. It is to be noted however, that a zero tolerance policy for financial investments would not be feasible

for ECHA due to the fact that chemicals are everywhere and any manufacturing company is a potential downstream user of chemicals and thus a potential duty holder towards the Agency, e.g. going from shoe manufacturers to furniture to cars. The ECHA threshold is aligned with Commission decision C(2016)3301 final of 30.5.2016 establishing horizontal rules on the creation and operation of Commission expert groups.

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3.2.2. Identifying risk levels and mitigating measures for competing interests

declared

Board of Appeal (see also Work Instruction (WIN-BOA-010) Conflict of Interests checks)

The annual declarations of the Board of Appeal members are monitored by its Chair. The

Chairman’s declarations are monitored by the longest serving member of the Board of

Appeal.

Specific, case-related declarations by a member of the Board of Appeal are assessed by the

other Board of Appeal members, who shall decide as to the action to be taken.

If a member of the Board of Appeal considers that because of a conflict of interests he/she

must not take part in the specific legal proceedings, he/she shall inform the Board of Appeal

accordingly. The Chairman may replace that member by an alternate.

Likewise, members of the Board of Appeal may be objected to by any party to the appeal

proceedings on the grounds of possible conflicts of interest. In this situation, the Board of

Appeal shall decide as to the action to be taken without the participation of the member

concerned. For the purpose of taking this decision, the member concerned shall be replaced

by an alternate (see Article 90(5)-(7) of the REACH Regulation).

Management Board, Committees and Forum

Members who have not submitted the annual declaration of interest shall not take part in

meetings of the ECHA body and its working groups or decisions by written procedure.

Upon receipt of the annually updated declaration of (competing) interests, the chairperson

of each ECHA body, with the assistance of the ECHA secretariat, shall identify one of the

below risk levels for each of the competing interests declared by the members of his/her

respective ECHA body:

• A (“interest cleared”): no competing interests declared or cleared as not relevant to

the work of respective ECHA body

When no competing interests are declared at all or the declared competing interest is

classified as not relevant to the work of the respective ECHA body, e.g. because it falls

outside the regulatory field of activity of ECHA, it is given the risk level A.

All interests declared in a public organisation (body established under public law of a

Member State serving a public interest) that is solely financed with public resources shall

also be given the risk level A.

Mitigating measures: None. All competing interests that receive the risk level A are

considered as not relevant and it clears the respective expert to work on any task assigned

to the respective ECHA body, unless he/she has other competing interests that are classified

with a B or C risk level.

However, public sector experts that have earlier contributed to the same case at Member

State level may be at risk of being put in a position of conflict of opinion when asked by

ECHA to review this earlier work. Therefore, members of the ECHA bodies may, where

appropriate, be asked to refrain from voting on proposals for opinion or decision that they

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have contributed to themselves or that are otherwise stemming from the Member State that

has nominated or appointed them.

• B (“interests require ad hoc assessment”): competing interest may be relevant to

the work of the respective ECHA body under certain specific circumstances

For competing interests declared in the field of “research funding” below 25% of the total

research budget; interests in “interest groups”; “other membership, affiliation or position”;

“other relevant information” and “interests held by close family members” the identification

of potential conflicts of interest can only be performed ad hoc, depending on the exact

details and circumstances of the case.

Mitigating measures: the competing interests covered by this risk level have to be reviewed

before each meeting against the agenda of such meeting and/or declared ad hoc by the

experts themselves in a specific oral declaration at the start of each meeting (recorded).

Depending on the exact details and circumstances of the case and based on the following

criteria, a decision is made by the chairperson on the possible application of an ad hoc

restriction:

o Direct interest (e.g. in the company/substance concerned) or indirect interest

(e.g. interest of spouse, interest in competitor substance, interest is sector-

wide but not related to one company, etc.);

o Amount/percentage of the research funding (below 25%) stemming from a

party with an interest in the outcome of the regulatory processes of ECHA;

o Relevance of the membership, affiliation or position for the regulatory activity

under discussion;

o Role of the individual concerned in the regulatory process;

o Etc.

When a restriction is applied, the chairperson shall decide on the appropriate level of

participation. This applies accordingly for the cases of written procedures in ECHA bodies.

As a minimum, such person shall not participate in any voting on the relevant agenda point

(see Article 88(3) of the REACH Regulation). Such person shall also not transfer his/her

voting right by proxy to another member. This does not preclude the replacement by an

alternate. The member concerned shall also not be appointed as (co-)rapporteur for a

particular case if he/she indicates any conflicting interests (see Article 87(1) of the REACH

Regulation).

Additionally, where further steps are deemed necessary, the chair shall at least have at

his/her disposal any of the following instruments to mitigate the issue:

o The member concerned can participate in the discussions but shall not

participate in the final deliberations on the relevant agenda point;

o The member concerned shall not participate in the discussions or final

deliberations on the relevant agenda point;

o The member concerned is to leave the room for the duration of the relevant

agenda point;

o The member concerned shall participate only as an expert witness in order

to testify and give specialist advice on a specific issue by providing

information and replying to any questions;

o In the case that an alternate can be appointed in the pertinent ECHA body,

the member concerned may be replaced by his/her alternate for the

relevant agenda point;

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o Where the Chair is concerned, he/she is to be replaced for the relevant

agenda point.

• C (“interest leads to specific restriction”): competing interest covered by a specific

cooling off period

When the declared competing interest is covered by one of the specific restrictions described

under chapter 3.2.1. above, it is given the risk level C.

Mitigating measures: for the competing interest covered by such a specific cooling off period,

the expert cannot vote in the opinion- or decision making on this specific substance or

company for a duration of five years.

For the competing interests declared orally at the beginning of a meeting, on the basis of

the type and nature of the potential conflict identified, the chairperson shall decide on the

appropriate level of participation, based on the same criteria and using the same

instruments as indicated above for interests with risk level B.

3.2.3. Mitigating measures for conflicts of interest of a general nature and breach

of trust

Any false declaration, wilful omission or refusal to declare interests or any other failure to

comply with this procedure may be seen as a breach of trust towards the Agency. The same

applies for any persistent conflict of interest which seriously hampers the functioning of the

ECHA body.

The respective chair of the ECHA body shall inform the Executive Director of the Agency of

any suspected breach and can decide on remedial actions. In case the remedial actions do

not bring the expected outcome, the chair in consultation with the Executive Director shall

send a formal notification to the Appointing Authority2 stating the nature of the problem.

The respective Appointing Authority is responsible for adopting any formal decision as a

consequence of a (potential) conflict of interest when they are informed of a situation which

may be detrimental to the Agency. Such decision may vary from a letter of reprimand to

the request or duty to resign or the revocation of the nomination / appointment. The

nominating authority shall be consulted before any such formal decision is taken.

The members of the Board of Appeal may not be removed from office unless there are

serious grounds and only by decision of the Commission, after obtaining the opinion of the

Management Board.

2 For the Management Board the appointing authority is either the Council of the European Union (for the members nominated by the Member States), the Commission or the Parliament (Article 79

of the REACH Regulation). The appointing authority for the Member State Committee, the Biocidal Products Committee and the Forum are the respective Member States (Articles 85(3) and 86 of the REACH Regulation and Article 75(2) of the BPR), while for the Board of Appeal, the Committee for Risk Assessment and the Committee for Socio-economic Analysis the appointing authority is the ECHA Management Board or the Committee in the case of co-opted members.

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In case the Executive Director is not satisfied with the remedies put in place by the chair or

by the Appointing Authority, he/she shall inform the ECHA body concerned of this fact in its

next meeting and have it noted in the minutes of the meeting.

Anyone affected by a decision of the chair of an ECHA body to implement remedial actions

can request the Chair of the Management Board for a review of such decision. The Chair of

the Management Board, in consultation with the Executive Director, shall decide on the

follow-up, with the possibility to consult the Conflicts of Interest Advisory Committee.

3.3. After the end of the mandate/employment

Post-employment declarations

Members of the ECHA bodies, staff members of the Agency, members of networks or expert

groups, observers and third parties working with the Agency shall be required, even after

their duties have ceased, not to disclose information of the kind covered by the duty of

professional secrecy (see e.g. Article 105 of the REACH Regulation).

If a member of an ECHA body intends to be engaged (either solicited or not) in occupational

activities (employment, consultancy, membership of a governing or permanent scientific

advisory board) during the term of the mandate the member shall immediately inform the

chairperson and secretariat of the respective ECHA body. This duty applies (irrespective if

a contract has already been signed or not and the activity is paid or unpaid and applies to

occupational activities, with a commercial entity with an interest in the regulatory field of

activity of the Agency or an association or other body (except a body established under

public law of a Member State serving a public interest) which can be considered as an

interest group with an interest in the field of chemicals management. Taking into account

also the generic exclusion criteria (see chapter 3.2.1.), the Agency will then fully restrict

the member from further involvement in the activities of the ECHA body from the date of

notification. The Appointing (and nominating) Authority will be informed by the Agency that

the member can no longer be involved in the activities of the ECHA body.

3.4. Additional controls

Ex-post controls

The respective secretariat of each ECHA body shall verify the completeness of the annual

declarations submitted by the members of the ECHA bodies and may undertake sample

checks to guarantee their accuracy and veracity.

On a regular basis the ECHA Secretariat shall undertake a number of ex-post reviews of

conflict of interest checks performed. To that end, it shall verify for a number of randomly

selected case files whether conflict of interest checks were performed according to this

procedure and its implementing rules.

An ex-post review shall be mandatory with regard to the concerned case file(s) when an

actual conflict of interest is discovered. Similarly, if the person concerned by an established

breach of trust was involved in an opinion- or decision-making procedure, the Agency may

carry out an ex-post review of the person's activities and contributions to the Agency's

output.

3.5. Further implementation

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As the legal representative of the Agency and responsible for the daily management of the

Agency, the Executive Director shall adopt implementing rules to this procedure, containing

the detailed rules for preventing and handling conflicts of interest. He/she shall regularly

report on the implementation of the procedure to the Management Board and in the annual

activity report of the Agency.

The ECHA bodies shall include detailed provisions for the implementation of this procedure

into their respective Rules of Procedures, Codes of Conduct and working procedures. Where

necessary and if applicable, the chair may decide to impose the same requirements on the

regular members of working groups established by the respective ECHA bodies.

4. Flowchart

N/A

5. Definitions

Term or abbreviation Definition

“Active” membership of or

affiliation to an organisation

Active membership of or involvement in any organisation relevant to

the regulatory field of activity of ECHA, other than a governing body or scientific advisory body. This shall in particular concern membership of interest groups (i.e. organisations engaged in activities carried out with the objective of directly or indirectly

influencing the formulation or implementation of policy and decision- making processes of the Agency). However, membership of a religious group, a political party, a trade union or comparable entity

does not need to be declared. Scientific societies and similar professional associations, not engaged in lobbying activities, are also excluded.

Active membership or involvement shall include the making of donations beyond the regular membership fee; active participation to events or other contributions to activities; active involvement in

the internal working of the organisation; et cetera.

Breach of trust Any false declaration, wilful omission or refusal to declare interests or any other failure to comply with the agency's conflict of interest policy.

Close family members The persons forming a household with the person making the

declaration of interest (i.e. spouse, partner, and/or dependent children, as well as other relatives under the care of the members of the household).

CoIAC Conflicts of Interest Advisory Committee

Commercial entity Includes any commercial business, consultancy, research institute or other enterprise, whose funding is significantly derived from commercial sources. It also includes independent own commercial businesses, law offices, consultancies or other.

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Term or abbreviation Definition

Conflict of interest There is a conflict of interest where the impartiality and objectivity of a decision, opinion or recommendation of the Agency, including its bodies, is or might in the public perception be compromised by an interest held by, or entrusted to, an individual working for the Agency.

More specifically, this means that a conflict of interest can arise if private interests of those involved in the activities of ECHA interfere with the work of the Agency and its duty to take impartial and objective decisions in the public interest. A conflict of interest

situation can also exist if personal interests are perceived by others as interfering with the work of ECHA and, thus, undermining the public’s trust in the integrity of the Agency and its work.

According to Article 61 of the EU Financial Regulation a conflict of interests exists where the impartial and objective exercise of the functions of a financial actor or other person is compromised for reasons involving family, emotional life, political or national affinity, economic interest or any other direct or indirect personal interest.

ECHA body The ECHA bodies shall include the Management Board, the Member State Committee, the Risk Assessment Committee, the Committee for Socio-economic Analysis, the Biocidal Products Committee, the Enforcement Forum and the Board of Appeal.

ECHA Secretariat The ECHA Secretariat works under the leadership of the Executive Director and provides technical, scientific and administrative support

for the Committees and the Forum and ensures appropriate coordination between them. It shall also undertake the work required of the Agency under the procedures for pre-registration, registration and evaluation as well as preparation of guidance, database maintenance and information provision (Article 76(1)(g) of the REACH Regulation).

Employment, consultancy, legal representation or advice

All forms of employment (also self-employment), part-time and full- time, either paid or unpaid, in any organisation (profit or non-profit, public or private) whose activities fall within the regulatory field of activity of ECHA.

Consultancy, legal representation or advice within the regulatory field of activity of ECHA, regardless of whether they charge a fee or

not, is to be considered as well.

Intellectual property These are the rights granted to creators and owners of works that are the result of human intellectual creativity and that pertain to a domain falling within the regulatory field of activity of ECHA. These can be publications or can be in the industrial, scientific and artistic domain. They can be in the form of an invention, a manuscript, a

suite of software, or a business name (e.g. copyrights, trademarks, patents, et cetera). Proprietary know-how in a substance, technology or process can also be relevant.

Investment Any financial interest in undertakings which are subject to the authority of ECHA or which have dealings with ECHA, including the

holding of stocks and shares, stock options, equity, bonds, and/or partnership interest in the capital of such an undertaking. This

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Term or abbreviation Definition

includes ’financial interests’ or ‘investments’ in a subsidiary of the said undertaking or in a commercial entity in which the said undertaking holds capital.

Partnerships in law-firms or other managerial stakes are to be considered as well.

However, the holding of financial interest through an investment fund, pension fund and/or interests in non-nominal unit trusts or similar arrangements would not, in principle, need to be declared, provided that these investments are broadly diversified, and the

individual has no influence on their financial management.

Membership of a governing

body or equivalent structure

Any participation in the internal decision-making (e.g. board

membership, directorship) of a public or private organisation or commercial entity operating in the regulatory field of activity of ECHA.

For this purpose, the fact of whether this activity is remunerated or not is irrelevant.

Membership of a scientific advisory body or equivalent structure

Any participation in the works of a scientific advisory body operating in the regulatory field of activity of ECHA with a right to vote on the outputs of that entity (e.g. voting on scientific output adopted by that entity).

For this purpose, the fact of whether this activity is remunerated or not is irrelevant.

Organisation Governmental, international and non-profit organisations active in the regulatory field of activity of ECHA, as well as interest groups (i.e. organisations and self-employed individuals engaged in activities carried out with the objective of directly or indirectly influencing the formulation or implementation of policy and decision- making processes of the Agency.

Process owner A process owner is a person (staff member of the ECHA Secretariat) designated by the Executive Director, responsible for the efficient and effective functioning of the process and has the necessary authority to take action or make decisions with an impact on the process performance. In general, the process owner ensures that proper action is taken with respect to the implementation,

maintenance, control and improvement of the process.

Research funding Any funding for research provided by a private or public entity, including grants, rents, sponsorships and fellowships and received in a personal capacity or via the research entity to which one belongs (as long as it is related to projects to which the declarant has or had direct links) and falling within the regulatory field of activity of ECHA.

Non-monetary support is also envisaged (e.g. equipment, facilities, research assistants, paid travel to meetings, et cetera).

6. Records

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Record name Security level Comments

Declarations of interest and commitment of members of ECHA bodies

Public

Declaration of confidentiality of members of ECHA bodies

Restricted

Specific declarations of interest related to a point on the agenda of a meeting of

an ECHA body, as recorded in the minutes

Public

7. References

Associated document code Document name

Regulation (EC) No 771/2008 Commission Regulation (EC) No 771/2008 of 1 August 2008 laying down the rules of organisation and procedure of the Board of Appeal of the European Chemicals Agency

Management Board Decision 10/2021, ref. MB/10/2021

Rules of Procedure for the Committee for Risk Assessment

Management Board Decision

11/2021, ref. MB/10/2021

Rules of Procedure for the Committee for Socio-economic Analysis

MB/33/2020 final Rules of Procedure for the Management Board

Management Board Decision 09/2021, ref. MB/10/2021

Rules of Procedure for the Member State Committee

MB/25/2013 final Rules of Procedure for the Biocidal Products Committee

MB/34/2020 final Rules of Procedure for the Forum for Exchange of Information on Enforcement

ED-0035.01 Code of conduct for observers at ECHA meetings

MB Decision 22/2023, ref. doc.

MB/19/2023

Code of Conduct of the Management Board

ED/08/2013 General Principles and Guidance for Committee Members of the European Chemicals Agency

ED/43/2013 General Principles and Guidance for members of the Forum for

Exchange of Information on Enforcement of the European Chemicals Agency

ED/88/2022 ECHA Code of conduct for case owners of evaluation draft decisions as observers at meetings of the Member State Committee (MSC)

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Associated document code Document name

ED/104/2013 Code of conduct for applicants participating in the Biocidal Products Committee and its Working Groups

BoA/01/2018 Code of conduct of the members of the Board of Appeal of the European Chemicals Agency as regards its alternate and additional

members

BoA/01/2023 Code of conduct of the members of the Board of Appeal of the European Chemicals Agency who are staff of the Agency

8. Annexes

Annex 1 – Overview of allowable and non-allowable interests

Annex 2 – Generic exclusion criteria for key positions

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Annex 1 – Overview of allowable and non-allowable interests

Full exclusion applied (before appointment/employment)

Specific restriction applied for 5 years for specific company concerned (during

mandate/employment)

Allowable interests: no exclusion nor restriction

Interests subject to case-by-case assessment

External experts ECHA staff

Management Board

members

Committees and Forum members

Additional and alternate members of the Board of

Appeal

Regular members of the Board of Appeal –

ECHA managers – Accounting Officer –

Committee chairpersons

Other ECHA staff

Non-allowable interests

Current employment (in a position of relevant importance) by, or holding a position in a governing body or permanent scientific advisory body (whether paid or unpaid) of, a commercial enterprise with an interest in the regulatory field of activity of the Agency.

Under the Staff Regulations for EU officials, all ECHA staff members have to receive the approval of the appointing authority for any outside activity or assignment, regardless whether the activity is paid or unpaid.

Current active membership of, or employment by (in a position of relevant

importance), an association or other body (except a body established under public law serving a public interest) which can be considered an interest group with an interest in the field of chemicals management.

Current personal contractual obligations to perform work for a commercial entity or an interest group with an interest in the regulatory field of activity of the Agency.

Current investments above 10.000 EUR (or giving right to 5% or more of voting rights) in a commercial entity manufacturing, importing, supplying or placing on the market substances or mixtures subject to the authority of the Agency.

Current investments above 10.000 EUR (or giving right to 5% or more of voting rights) in a commercial entity (with regard to that commercial entity for as long as the investment is kept)

Past employment by (in a position of relevant importance), or holding a position in a governing body or permanent scientific advisory body (whether paid or unpaid) of, a commercial enterprise with an interest in the regulatory field of activity of the Agency within the past two years when the individual concerned has a potential conflict of interest of a general nature that would lead to multiple exclusions of the individual from the meetings of the ECHA body concerned, from rapporteurship or from the decision-making of the Board of Appeal.

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Past active membership of, or employment by, an association or other body (except a body established under public law serving a public interest) which can be

considered an interest group with an interest in the field of chemicals management within the past two years when the individual concerned has a potential conflict of interest of a general nature that would lead to multiple exclusions of the individual from the meetings of the ECHA body concerned, from rapporteurship or from the decision-making of the Board of Appeal.

For candidates for the position of Accounting Officer, Executive Director or member of the Board of Appeal:

Close family relationship with any of the persons currently occupying one of these same positions or of the position of member of the Management Board or Executive Director or senior manager (Director) at ECHA.

Past employment or another professional relationship (e.g. consultancy or legal advice) with a commercial entity for a period of five years counted from the end of the employment or other professional relationship (with regard to opinions or decisions which create or modify legal rights or obligations of that commercial entity)

Past membership of a governance board or permanent scientific advisory body with a commercial entity for a period of five years counted from the end of the membership (with regard to opinions or decisions which create or modify legal rights or obligations of that commercial entity)

Current intellectual property in a specific commercial entity or substance (with regard to that substance or commercial entity for as long as the intellectual property is kept)

Research funding above 25% of the total research budget received from a specific company for a period of five years counted from the end of the funding (with regard to opinions or decisions which create or modify legal rights or obligations of that commercial entity)

Allowable interests

Interests outside the regulatory field of activity of ECHA, with no restrictions.

Past interests, for which a period of 5 years or more has passed, with no restrictions.

Current and past employment by, or holding a position in a governing body or permanent scientific advisory body (whether paid or unpaid) of, a public organisation (including e.g. national competent authorities).3

Current investments below 10,000 EUR per commercial entity, with no restrictions (except if these investments would amount to voting rights of 5% or more in such commercial entity).

Current non-active membership/affiliation or past active membership/affiliation in an organisation relevant to the regulatory field of activity of ECHA for which a period of five years has passed, with no restrictions. Current and past active membership or affiliation in organisations not relevant to the regulatory field of activity of ECHA, with no restrictions.

3 This includes organisations solely financed with public resources. However, experts that have

earlier contributed to the same case at Member State level may be at risk of being put in a position of conflict of opinion when asked by ECHA to review this earlier work. Therefore, members of ECHA bodies may, where appropriate, be asked to refrain from voting on proposals for opinion or decision that they have contributed to themselves or that are otherwise stemming from the Member State that has nominated or appointed them.

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Past interests of members of the same household, with no restrictions.

Interests subject to a case-by-case analysis, taking into account all the specific elements of the case

All current and past interests related to research funding below 25%, memberships, affiliation and positions and close personal relationships (beyond those with the members of household).

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Annex 2 – Generic exclusion criteria for candidates for membership in the ECHA bodies and for key positions in the ECHA Secretariat4

Group 1: Candidates for membership in the Committee for Risk Assessment, the

Committee for Socio-economic Analysis or additional or alternate members of the Board of

Appeal have to comply with the generic exclusion criteria a) -e) (and for some positions also

criteria f)) below to be considered for appointment by the Management Board.

Group 2: For the candidates for membership in the Management Board, the Member State Committee,

the Biocidal Products Committee, the Enforcement Forum (group 2), with the exception of the

Commission when appointing the three Management Board members to represent interested parties,

the relevant appointing authorities are invited to respect the ECHA Conflict of Interest Policy and to

adhere to the below guidelines for exclusion a) – e) when appointing members to such ECHA bodies.

Group 3: candidates for the position of Chairmen of the ECHA Committees (MSC, RAC, SEAC, BPC),

Accounting Officer or for the position of Executive Director, Director, Head of Unit or full-time member

of the Board of Appeal have to comply with the generic exclusion criteria d) – e) (and for some positions

also criteria f) ) below to be considered for appointment. The first three criteria a) -c) are not relevant

for the candidates for the above positions and do not apply, as they become ECHA staff members and

they will have to comply with the Staff Regulations for EU officials, and in particular the obligation to

receive the approval of the appointing authority for any outside activity.

a. Candidates being currently employed by (in a position of relevant

importance), whether paid or unpaid, a commercial entity with an

interest in the regulatory field of activity of the Agency or an association or

other body (except a body established under public law of a Member State

serving a public interest) which can be considered as an interest group with

an interest in the field of chemicals management shall not be appointed.

Appointed members of the Committees of the Agency shall resign from the

Committee before they enter into service in any such enterprise.

b. Candidates being an active member of, or holding a position in a governing

body or permanent5 scientific advisory body of a commercial entity with an

interest in the regulatory field of activity of the Agency or an association or

other body (except a body established under public law of a Member State

serving a public interest) which can be considered as an interest group

4 The scope of the generic exclusion criteria shall be limited to duty-holders and interest groups subject to the authority of ECHA or active in the regulatory field of activity of ECHA as appropriate

taking into account the mandate of the respective ECHA body. The generic exclusion criteria apply equally to the interests held by members of the candidates’ household if significant interests are at stake that would potentially lead to multiple exclusions of the candidate from the meetings of the ECHA body, the decision making of the Agency or from rapporteurship. 5 As opposed to ad hoc or temporary project boards

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with an interest in the field of chemicals management shall not be

appointed. Appointed members shall resign from the Committee before

they enter into service in any such association.

c. Candidates who personally have contractual obligations to perform work

for a commercial entity or interest group with an interest in the regulatory

field of activity of the Agency after having been appointed as members,

shall (a) withdraw from current contracts and (b) refrain from entering into

any new contracts with such commercial entities or organisations.

d. Candidates who currently hold investments above 10.000 EUR in a

commercial entity manufacturing, importing or supplying substances or

mixtures subject to the authority of the Agency, including holding of stocks

and shares, stock options, equity, bonds, partnership interest in the capital

of such undertaking, one of its subsidiaries or a company in the capital

of which it has a holding or entitling to a voting right of 5% or more in

such commercial entity, shall not be appointed. This is without prejudice to

financial interests held through an investment fund, pension fund and/or

interests in non-nominal unit trusts or similar arrangements, provided that

these investments are broadly diversified, and the candidate has no

influence on their financial management.

e. Candidates who were within the past two years employed by (in a position

of relevant importance), or held a position in a governing body or

permanent scientific advisory body (whether paid or unpaid) of a commercial

entity with an interest in the regulatory field of activity of the Agency or an

association or other body (except a body established under public law of a

Member State serving a public interest) which can be considered as an

interest group with an interest in the field of chemicals management (or an

active member thereof) shall not be appointed when the candidate has a

potential conflict of interest of a general nature that would potentially lead

to multiple exclusions of the individual from the meetings of the ECHA body,

the decision making of the Agency or from rapporteurship.

f. Candidates for the position of Accounting Officer or Executive Director, who

are close family members6 of any of the persons currently occupying one of

these same positions or of a member of the Management Board or a senior

manager (Director) at ECHA, shall not be appointed.

Candidates for the position of member of the Board of Appeal, who are close

family members of the persons occupying the position of Executive Director,

6 Close family members are persons forming a household with the person making the declaration of interest (i.e. spouse, partner, and/or dependent children, as well as other relatives under the care of the members of the household).

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senior manager (Director) at ECHA or of a member of the Management

Board, shall not be appointed.