Infokiri

1 (3)

D(2024)0265

Helsinki, 25 March 2024 RS/MO/mm

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

Permanent Representations

of the EU Member States and

EEA-EFTA Countries

Sent by email only

Subject: Member States’ nominations to ECHA Committees RAC and SEAC -

Renewal and new membership

Dear Sir/Madam,

The European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) is launching the process for (re)nominating

candidates for membership of the Committees for Risk Assessment (RAC) and Socio-

Economic Analysis (SEAC).1

You are kindly invited to submit your nominations and supporting documents no later

than Tuesday 30 April 2024 to [email protected].

Please note that nominations must come through the Permanent Representation/Mission

to the EU. This is to be done preferably by forwarding to ECHA, via email the nomination

form (Annex 3) signed by the Member State Competent Authority (MSCA). Supporting

documents can be provided directly to ECHA by the nominee or MSCA.

We would like to draw your attention to the importance of a prompt nomination of

committees members. The ex-post evaluation of ECHA’s Committees, conducted in 2023,

found that RAC and SEAC are working at their capacity limits and that there is a significant

untapped potential for Member States to nominate more members to these committees.

According to the REACH Regulation each country can nominate up to two RAC and SEAC

members. However, some Member States have nominated only one committee member

and some Member States none; as a result of this, RAC is at 68% of full capacity and

SEAC at about 50%. In addition, new expertise is needed to carry out new tasks

(Drinking water, Batteries, etc.).

Prior to submitting the (re-)nomination documents, the nominating authority is strongly

recommended to liaise with the Chairs of RAC and SEAC, respectively, to discuss suitable

profiles for candidates being nominated for the first time and to discuss the performance

of candidates (current members) proposed for re-nomination:

• Roberto Scazzola Chair of RAC: [email protected]

• Maria Ottati Chair of SEAC: [email protected]

A phone interview with the respective Chair will be organized for all new candidates;

nominations will only be forwarded for consideration by the Management Board of the

Agency once this has successfully been completed and the Chairs have reviewd the

qualifications and availability of the nominees.

1 REACH Regulation, Articles 85(1) and (2).

2 (3)

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

1. Practicalities

The names of the current members whose term of office is about to end are listed in Annex

1 and the full list of vacancies is contained in Annex 2.

To support Member States in selecting the most appropriate candidates, we attach

background documents (Annexes 4 and 5) that describe the two Committees of ECHA with

respect to their tasks, role of members and ways of operation. The background documents

also specify the current needs of the Committees in terms of scientific expertise.

Members are expected to provide at least 50% of their time to the work of the Committees

and the nominating authority, on behalf of the member’s employer, guarantees this by

signing Annex 3 of the nomination papers. All members of RAC and SEAC are required to

take on the crucial role of rapporteur and draft the scientific opinion of the Committee on

specific cases. Commenting on draft opinions circulated for Committee consultation is also

an important ongoing task.

Supporting documents for nomination of new candidates

• Expertise grid (Annexes 4-5)

• Declaration of Interest (Annex 6)

• Europass CV (Annex 7)

Supporting documents for renewal of current membership

• Annexes 4-7. Note that the RAC Expertise grid was updated in October 2023 to

take account of specific expertise needed for new RAC processes. Please submit

updated grids for all renewals.

2. Independence of members

The appointing authority is invited to read the ECHA policy on Prevention and Management

of potential Conflicts of Interest and in particular its Annex 2 on the Eligibility criteria for

candidates for membership in the ECHA bodies and for key positions in the ECHA

Secretariat.

3. Publication of personal data2

ECHA will process any personal data received in accordance with ECHA’s privacy rules.

Please note that the list of nominees, the membership of the Committees, professional

qualifications and Declaration of Interests of the members shall be made public on the

Agency’s website.

If you have any questions, please contact the Committees Secretariat at: committees-

[email protected].

Yours faithfully,

(e-signed)3

Peter van der Zandt

Director of Risk Management

2 Article 88(1) and 85 of REACH

3 As this is an electronic document, it is not physically signed. This communication has been approved according to ECHA’s internal decision approval process.

3 (3)

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

Cc: REACH Competent Authorities of the Member States

Secretariat of the ECHA Management Board

Members of ECHA Committees listed in Annex 1

Encls. Annex 1 Members of the Committees whose term of office is expiring

Annex 2 List of vacant positions on the two Committees

Annex 3 Nomination form

Annex 4 Background paper on RAC with the updated expertise grid

Annex 5 Background paper on SEAC with the updated expertise grid

Annex 6 ECHA Declaration of Interest

Annex 7 Europass CV template

ANNEX 1 1 (1)

P.O. Box 400, FI-00121 Helsinki, Finland | Tel. +358 9 686180 | Fax +358 9 68618210 | echa.europa.eu

ANNEX 1 - Current Members of the Committees whose term of office will end

by 31 December 2024

Committee for Risk Assessment (RAC)

Country Title Member Organisation End of

Term

AT Dr LOSERT Annemarie Austrian Environment Agency 22/09/2024

Committee for Socio-Economic Analysis (SEAC)

Country Title Member Organisation End of

Term

FR Mr

BRIGNON Jean-Marc Federal Institute for Occupational

Safety and Health, Federal office

for Chemicals

16/12/2023

NO Ms MÅGE Marit

Bureau for Chemical Substances 16/12/2023

LT Mr RUZGYS Karolis Latvian Environment, Geology and

Meteorology Centre 22/09/2024

1(1)

Country Committee Number of

members allowed

Current number of

members Number of vacancies

Austria RAC 2 2 0

Austria SEAC 2 1 1

Belgium RAC 2 1 1

Belgium** SEAC 2 2 0

Bulgaria RAC 2 1 1

Bulgaria SEAC 2 0 2

Croatia RAC 2 2 0 Croatia SEAC 2 1 1

Cyprus RAC 2 1 1

Cyprus SEAC 2 2 0

Czech Republic RAC 2 1 1

Czech Republic SEAC 2 0 2

Denmark RAC 2 2 0

Denmark SEAC 2 1 1

Estonia RAC 2 0 2

Estonia SEAC 2 1 1

Finland RAC 2 2 0

Finland SEAC 2 1 1

France RAC 2 2 0

France SEAC 2 2 0

Germany RAC 2 2 0

Germany SEAC 2 2 0

Greece RAC 2 2 0

Greece SEAC 2 1 1

Hungary RAC 2 1 1

Hungary SEAC 2 1 1

Iceland RAC 2 0 2

Iceland SEAC 2 0 2

Ireland RAC 2 1 1

Ireland SEAC 2 1 1

Italy RAC 2 2 0

Italy SEAC 2 2 0 Latvia RAC 2 2 0

Latvia* SEAC 2 0 2 Liechtenstein RAC 2 0 2 Liechtenstein SEAC 2 0 2

Lithuania RAC 2 2 0

Lithuania SEAC 2 1 1

Luxembourg RAC 2 2 0

Luxembourg SEAC 2 1 1

Malta RAC 2 0 2

Malta SEAC 2 0 2

Netherlands RAC 2 2 0

Netherlands SEAC 2 2 0

Norway RAC 2 2 0

Norway SEAC 2 1 1

Poland* RAC 2 1 1

Poland SEAC 2 0 2

Portugal RAC 2 1 1

Portugal SEAC 2 1 1

Romania RAC 2 2 0

Romania SEAC 2 0 2

Slovakia RAC 2 1 1

Slovakia SEAC 2 0 2

Slovenia RAC 2 2 0

Slovenia SEAC 2 2 0

Spain RAC 2 2 0

Spain SEAC 2 2 0

Sweden RAC 2 2 0

Sweden SEAC 2 1 1

* New nomination already received for MB approval

** There will be a vacancy after June 2024

Annex 2 - List of vacant positions on the two Committees from 25

March 2024

Annex 4

1(4)

Helsinki, 25 March 2024

BACKGROUND PAPER

Committee for Risk Assessment

1 Introduction

The Committee for Risk Assessment (RAC) of the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) is

responsible for providing opinions to the European Commission on:

- Restrictions and Applications for Authorisation under the REACH1 regulation ;

- Harmonised classifications under Classification, Labelling and Packaging CLP2;

- Occupational Exposure Limits (OELs) under the CMRD/CAD worker protection

legislation3

- Drinking Water Directive – European Positive List (from 2025);

- (new) Regulation on batteries and waste batteries (from 2024)

All of these processes require an in-depth scientific knowledge and expertise from the

Committee’s members in a variety of specific disciplines.

This document has been developed to support the Member States (MSs) in nominating,

the best candidates to RAC. It provides details on the tasks and expected workload of the

members and the level of support required from their nominating members state. Finally,

the paper concludes with an overview of the fields of expertise needed by the members of

RAC.

2 Composition, role and tasks of the Committee for Risk Assessment

RAC is chaired by Mr Roberto Scazzola who is an ECHA staff member and is supported by

a committee secretariat provided by ECHA.

RAC is composed of members nominated by the EU Member States and EEA-EFTA countries

but appointed by the Management Board of ECHA in their personal capacity as scientists.

It has a nominal capacity of 60 members, two each from the 27 EU and the 3 EEA-EFTA

countries. At the moment there are 43 members, thus 17 regular places are free.

In addition, RAC can co-opt up to five additional members. At the moment there are four

co-opted members.

1 Regulation (EC) No 1907/2006, OJ L 396, 30.12.2006 p.1, corrected version in OJ L 136, 29.5.2007, p. 3 2 Regulation (EC) No 1272/2008, OJ L 353, 31.12.2008 3 DIRECTIVE 2004/37/EC on the protection of workers from the risks related to exposure to carcinogens or mutagens at work

Summary: The Committee for Risk Assessment (RAC) is currently looking for specialists

to be nominated in particular in the fields of:

• epidemiology (worker/consumer)

• toxicology and human health risk assessment

• environmental risk assessment

• biodegradation and ecotoxicology

• occupational hygiene and medicine

• drinking water directive

• batteries and waste batteries

Annex 4

2(4)

RAC is a multidisciplinary Committee covering diverse types of processes and it

formulates opinions in relation to the following:

• Applications for Authorisation – Assessing the risk from the use(s) of a

substance to workers and the environment arising from those uses for which

authorisation is being sought. This includes an assessment of the operational

conditions and risk management measures and the related exposures described in

the application (Article 64(4) of the REACH Regulation);

• Restrictions - Evaluating whether the restrictions proposed by a Member State or

ECHA for a substance are appropriate in reducing the risk to human health and/or

the environment;

• Harmonised Classification and Labelling - Evaluating proposals from Member

States or manufacturers, importers or downstream users for harmonised

classification and labelling of a substance under the CLP Regulation.

• Occupational Exposure Limits – RAC is requested by the European Commission

to provide scientific evaluations on occupational exposure limits for carcinogens and

chemical agents at the workplace.

• Drinking water – Assessing applications to add/remove substances to/from the

European positive list (from 2025)

• Batteries - identifying substances of concern found in batteries or used in their

manufacturing and preparing proposals to restrict substances in both batteries and

waste batteries

3 Expectations of expertise for the RAC members

The REACH Regulation makes it clear that members must possess the necessary

qualifications in order to allow the Committees to meet the high expectations placed on

them. RAC members require a knowledge of regulatory science and its use under the

REACH, CLP and OSH Regulations, related to chemicals. To provide independent scientific

advice, the Committee requires expertise from both regulatory scientists and from

academics.

Key areas of expertise required

The key areas of specialised expertise required by the Committee are presented below.

Applications for Authorisations and Occupation Health and safety

• Epidemiology and occupational medicine

• Human health risk assessment in particular carcinogenicity

• Occupational hygiene and workplace exposure assessment

• Risk Management Measures and operational conditions

• Indirect exposure (humans via the environment); emissions to air, water,

soil/sediment

Classification Labelling and Packaging (CLP)

• Regulatory toxicology: carcinogenicity, mutagenicity, toxicity to reproduction

Specific Target Organ Toxicity, Sensitization, acute toxicity

• Ecotoxicology and biodegradation

• Test Guideline development

• Understanding of the CLP criteria

Restrictions

• Human health and environmental health risk assessment

• Technical aspects of restrictions: effectiveness, monitorability, etc

Annex 4

3(4)

• Risk management measures

• PBT, vPvB

Occupational exposure limits

• Occupational medicine

• Epidemiology

• Carcinogenicity, Mutagenicity, including Mode of Action

Drinking Water

• Water chemistry

• Materials science

• Migration testing

• Human health risk assessment

Batteries and waste batteries

• Knowledge of different batteries types, including manufacturing processes,

recycling of materials and disposal of waste batteries acquired from work

experience in industry and/or in the sector of battery waste management and/or

in public regulatory bodies with emphasis to chemicals management

• Experience in the regulatory risk management of substances in batteries and

waste batteries under relevant legislation on batteries (e.g. Batteries Directive),

vehicle batteries (e.g. ELV Directive), batteries using equipment (e.g. RoHS

directive) etc.

Support for member’s activities

Member State Competent Authorities are obliged to provide support to enable RAC

members to accomplish their activities in RAC in accordance with Art. 85(6), keeping in

mind the scientific independence of the members as established under Article 85(7) of the

REACH Regulation. To this end, RAC members should be entitled to dedicate a major part

of their working time to RAC activities - at least 50% of their time (See Annex III) -

which requires specific arrangements with the members and their institutions/employers.

This support could include the provision of regular advisers depending on the topic and ad-

hoc specialists plus administrative support.

Rapporteurships

Most of the work of RAC is conducted between meetings and consists of drafting by

Rapporteurs and consultation of the Committee’s opinions with the membership. According

to Article 87(1) of the REACH Regulation, the members of RAC are expected to serve

as (co-) rapporteurs for preparing the opinions of the Committee. Each member is

expected to act as a rapporteurs or co-rapporteur for several dossiers per year during

his/her 3-year membership depending on the scale of individual dossiers, this may be lower

or higher. It should be noted that the scale and scope of dossiers can vary considerably.

Written commenting rounds on opinions

All RAC members are expected to provide their comments and views on the different draft

proposals during written consultations and should be fully involved in the opinion-making

process.

Reimbursement

ECHA reimburses the travel and accommodation expenses and pays subsistence allowance

to the members and, where relevant, remunerates the rapporteur and co-rapporteur for

the work undertaken in line with the rules adopted by the Management Board

(MB/41/2020). As no remuneration is considered for the rapporteurs of CLH dossiers, ECHA

has implemented a mechanism for supporting them and thus contributing to the costs. The

participation of one adviser supporting the CLH rapporteur in RAC meetings where the

Annex 4

4(4)

substance is discussed is reimbursed. Advisers not employed in the public service of the

Member State can also receive an expert remuneration for their contribution to the

meeting.

5 Further considerations

RAC meetings are held four times a year, at present this usually consists of a single week

meetings; the provisional dates are published on the Committee pages of the ECHA website

at least a year in advance.

Please note that RAC has established four working groups for:

- Authorisations,

- Restrictions,

- Classification and Labelling and

- Drinking Water (to prepare for the implementation of the legislation).

These working groups meet between plenary meetings and pre-assess all dossiers ahead

of the next plenary, making recommendatios to RAC. Members and/or their advisors are

expected to be active in the Working Groups of RAC.

Annex 5

1(3)

Helsinki, 25 March 2024

BACKGROUND PAPER

Committee for Socio-economic Analysis

1 Introduction

The Committee for Socio-economic Analysis (SEAC) of the European Chemicals Agency

(ECHA) plays an important role in the key REACH1 processes concerning restrictions and

authorisations, as well as, from 2024, regulation on batteries and waste batteries.

Furthermore, it delivers opinions on any other aspects that arise from the operation of

REACH relating to the socio-economic impacts of possible legislative action on substances.

This document has been developed to support the Member States (MSs) in the process of

renewal of memberships of SEAC, and/or of nomination of new candidates. It provides

details on the expected workload of the members and the level of support required from

their nominating Member State. Finally, the paper presents an overview of the fields of

expertise to be covered in SEAC.

2 Composition, role and tasks of the Committee for Socio-economic Analysis

SEAC is composed of members appointed by the Management Board based on nominations

made by the Member States and EEA-EFTA countries. At the moment there are 31

members. In addition to members, SEAC can co-opt up to five additional members.

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. The ECHA

Committees (RAC, SEAC and MSC) are an essential part of the smooth functioning of

REACH. The tasks of SEAC are described in REACH in Article 76(1)(d).

SEAC formulates an ECHA opinion in relation to the following:

• Authorisation – Assessing the socio-economic factors related to applications for

authorisation and the availability and technical and economic feasibility of

alternatives.

• Restrictions – Assessing proposed restrictions under REACH and Batteries

Regulation and their socio-economic impact.

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).

Summary: The Committee for Socio-Economic Analysis (SEAC) is currently looking for

specialists to be nominated in particular in the fields of:

• economics (welfare, regulatory, public sector, environmental and/or health

economics)

• chemical engineering (substitution of hazardous substances and analysis of

technical feasibility of alternatives)

Annex 5

2(3)

In addition, the Executive Director of ECHA may ask SEAC to draw up an opinion on any

other aspects concerning the safety of substances on their own, in preparations or in

articles (Article 77(3)(b) and (c)).

3 Working procedures

There are fixed, tight deadlines for the delivery of SEAC’s opinions, and consequently the

committee will be under time pressure to deliver its opinions.

Article 87(1) stipulates that the Committee shall appoint one of its members as a

rapporteur in order to draft its opinions. Further to this, a co-rapporteur may be appointed.

SEAC is chaired by an ECHA staff member, Ms Maria Ottati, and is supported by a

committee secretariat provided by ECHA.

4 Expectations of expertise for the SEAC 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. A grid showing the fields of expertise that are relevant to SEAC is enclosed

to this document (see the separate Excel-file ‘SEAC Expertise Grid.xls’), and nominees are

asked to fill it in showing their level of expertise in each field.

Key areas of expertise required

The three key areas of specialised expertise required by the Committee are:

• Economics, in particular welfare, regulatory, public sector, environmental or health

economics;

• Methodologies analysing costs and benefits of regulation, including the analysis of

technical feasibility of alternatives and their costs;

• Knowledge about substitution and substances of concern, such as SVHCs.

In preparation for upcoming work on the Batteries Regulation, technical expertise in

different types of battery technologies would also be an asset.

Each of the members of SEAC need to possess the expertise and the English-language

skills necessary for actively participating in drafting, commenting on and discussing

opinions on proposals for restrictions and applications for authorisation.

Support for members’ activities

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

support the SEAC members by providing adequate scientific and technical resources to

them. A 50% time commitment is required from all SEAC members who share their

responsibilities, which include acting as dossier (co-)rapporteurs, contributing to the

discussions at SEAC with timely comments (both in writing in response to consultations on

opinions and other documents, and verbally during the plenaries), and participating in

other SEAC activities such as working groups.

Reimbursement

When attending meetings in person, ECHA reimburses the travel and accommodation

expenses and pays a subsistence allowance to the members. Where relevant, ECHA

remunerates the rapporteur and co-rapporteur for the work undertaken in line with the

rules adopted by the Management Board (MB/41/2020).

5 Further considerations

Annex 5

3(3)

SEAC meetings are held four times a year, typically for up to 2 weeks, and the provisional

dates are published on the Committee pages of the ECHA website at least a year in

advance. The actual number and duration of meetings will naturally depend on the

workload of the Committee. A proportion of the meetings of SEAC will be held in person,

with a significant proportion taking place remotely.

Considering the above, it is estimated that the SEAC member should expect to

work half time with SEAC-related issues in the coming three years.

Saatja: Tiiu Noobel <[email protected]>

Saadetud: 25.03.2024 18:09

Adressaat: TA Info <[email protected]>; Enda Veskimäe

<[email protected]>

Teema: FW: Membership in ECHA Committees RAC and SEAC - Nominations by 30

April 2024

Tähelepanu! Tegemist on väljastpoolt asutust saabunud kirjaga. Tundmatu

saatja korral palume linke ja faile mitte avada.

Tere!

Edastan. Eestil ei paista olevat aeguvaid liikmesusi.

Tiiu Noobel

Sekretär

Eesti Vabariigi alaline esindus EL juures

Rue Guimard 11/13, 1040 Brüssel

Tel: &#43; 32 2227 4337,

From: ECHA Committees secretariat &lt;committees-

[email protected]&gt; Sent: Monday, March 25, 2024 1:49 PMTo:

ECHA Committees secretariat &lt;committees-

[email protected]&gt;Subject: Membership in ECHA Committees RAC

and SEAC - Nominations by 30 April 2024

Dear Sir/Madam,

With this e-mail, you are invited to (re-)nominate your Member States

representative/s in the European Chemicals Agencys Committees for Risk

Assessment (RAC) and Socio-Economic Analysis (SEAC). The attached letter

and annexes explain the nomination process, documentation required, and

background information on the type of expertise sought for the RAC and

SEAC members.

On behalf of ECHA, we would like to express our encouragement to the

Member State Competent Authorities to continue to support the work of the

members of these bodies, which have a continuously increasing workload.

Yours faithfully,

Roberto Scazzola / Chair of RAC

Maria Ottati / Chair of SEAC

Committees secretariat echa.europa.eu P.O. Box 400, FI-00121

Helsinki, Finland

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