EUROPEAN COMMISSION Directorate-General for Environment Green Economy Chemicals Directorate-General for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SME's Resources Based, Manufacturing and Consumer Goods Industries REACH Chemicals Industry Brussels, 11 March 2015 Doc. CA/05/2015 17th Meeting of Competent Authorities for REACH and CLP (CARACAL) 26 – 27 March 2015 Room Sicco Mansholt (MANS), Building CHARLEMAGNE, Brussels, Belgium Concerns: Implementing Act on Data-Sharing in REACH Agenda Point: 18.1 Action Requested: The CARACAL MS are invited to take note of this document for discussion. Written comments on this document should be sent by 13 April 2015 to [email protected] and [email protected] and [email protected] Art No: 1 Article Title Wording of Provisions (02/03/15) Aim & Scope 1. The objective of this Regulation is to put efficiently into effect the provisions on joint submission of data and data sharing set out in Title II and III of Regulation (EC) No 1907/2006 (“REACH Regulation”). Costs associated with the sharing and joint submission of information in accordance with Titles II and III of the REACH Regulation shall be determined in a fair, transparent and non-discriminatory manner. 2. This Regulation is based on the principle enunciated in Articles 27(3) and 30(1) of the REACH Regulation that costs relating to a registrant's obligation to share information in accordance with that Regulation shall be determined in a fair, transparent and non-discriminatory way. This Regulation is also based on the principles enunciated in Articles 11(1) and 19(1) of the REACH Regulation that, where the same substance is registered by multiple registrants, certain information shall be submitted first by only one registrant acting with the agreement of the other assenting registrants. Any person and/or entity required to share and submit information pursuant to the REACH Regulation shall comply with the provisions established by this Regulation. 2 2 Definitions For the purposes of this Regulation: 1. Data-sharing agreement: means an agreement to share data for the purposes of fulfilling a registrant's obligations under the REACH Regulation. 2. Administrative cost: means any cost of creating, managing and updating the data set fulfilling the information requirements imposed by the REACH Regulation, including the cost related to the generation of information from non-testing studies; 3. Study cost: means any cost that was required for performing an existing study or required for performing a new testing study, whether relating to preparing the necessary specifications, contracting with a laboratory or monitoring its performance 3 3 Transparency 1. Where multiple registrants of the same substance are obliged to share information in accordance with their duties under the REACH Regulation, they shall reach an agreement on a cost-sharing model that shall be transparent to all potential registrants and existing registrants. 2. In relation to substances already registered, a potential registrant requesting the sharing of a study or a set of studies in accordance with Articles 27 or 30 of the REACH Regulation shall receive from the existing registrant(s), without undue delay, a description of the study costs. For information other than the one relating to testing studies, a potential registrant requesting the sharing of such information in accordance with the REACH Regulation shall receive from the existing registrant(s), without undue delay, a description of the administrative costs related to that information. In relation to study costs, the information requirements in the REACH Regulation to which the study corresponds shall be indicated. The potential registrant may waive his right to obtain such itemisation of the costs by providing his signed consent to the existing registrant(s). For administrative costs and study costs not covered by article 30(1) of the REACH Regulation incurred before the entry into force of this Regulation, the existing registrant(s) shall make every effort to provide justification of those costs if requested by the potential registrant. 3. Any data-sharing agreement concluded after the entry into force of the present regulation shall describe the costs incurred at the time of the signature, distinguishing both study costs and administrative costs. In relation to study costs, the description shall indicate the information requirements in the REACH Regulation to which each study corresponds. Any data-sharing agreement concluded before the entry into force of the present regulation shall be amended in order to indicate the study costs and administrative costs as described above, unless the registrants concerned unanimously agree to the contrary. For administrative costs and study costs not covered by article 30(1) of the REACH Regulation incurred before the entry into force of this Regulation, the existing registrant(s) shall make every effort to provide itemisation of those costs if requested by the potential registrant. 4 4. Where existing registrants of the same substance have shared information and submitted it jointly in accordance with the REACH Regulation, they shall document yearly any further administrative and study costs incurred in relation to the operation of their data-sharing agreement and any compensation received from subsequent registrants. The documentation shall clearly distinguish study costs from administrative costs. Both study and administrative costs shall be itemised in the documentation so that every party to a data-sharing agreement may identify whether a particular cost relates to an information requirement that he is required to fulfil under the REACH Regulation or if the cost relates to general administrative expenses. Without prejudice to the operation of any other provisions in the REACH Regulation, such annual documentation shall be kept for a minimum of 12 years following the latest submission of a study and shall be made available, free of charge, upon request from any party to the data-sharing agreement concerned or upon request from the Agency or a Member State, in accordance with Article 36(1) of the REACH Regulation. 5. In the absence of detailed documentation of costs incurred or compensation received before the entry into force of this Regulation, parties to that agreement shall make every effort to collate proof, or the best approximation, of such costs and compensation for each year since the commencement of that agreement. This documentation shall be made available free of charge upon request from any party to the data-sharing agreement concerned within reasonable time and in full consideration of the requirements related to applicable registration deadlines. 5 4 Fairness and 1. Where multiple registrants of the same substance are obliged to share information in accordance with their Nonduties under the REACH Regulation, they shall reach an agreement on a fair cost-sharing model that shall Discriminatio apply to all registrants without discrimination, including future registrants. n In agreeing on a particular cost-sharing model, consideration could be given to factors such as: the number of potential registrants estimated to register for that substance; and the possibility of future additional information requirements for that substance. 2. In the event that a cost-sharing model includes provisions to cover the possibility of future additional information requirements for that substance, any compensation deriving from such provisions must be justified and indicated separately from administrative and study costs in the estimate and in the contract for that data-sharing agreement. 3. A reimbursement mechanism shall be envisaged in every cost-sharing model and, inter alia, may take account of the following factors: the possibility of future additional registration requirements for that substance; a method of proportional redistribution to each party of their share of fees paid where a potential registrant joins that agreement in the future; and the economic viability of certain reimbursements where the costs of reimbursement are higher than the amount to be reimbursed. 4. Parties to a data-sharing agreement that already exists on the date of entry into force of this Regulation may waive their obligation to include a reimbursement mechanism in their cost-sharing model if all parties to that agreement give their signed consent to the waiver. A future potential registrant to that existing data-sharing agreement shall not be bound by the waiver and shall have the right to obtain the inclusion of a reimbursement mechanism in the cost-sharing model in accordance with this Regulation, unless he also gives his signed consent to the waiver. 5. In accordance with Articles 27(3) and 30(1) of the REACH Regulation, any registrant for a substance shall only be required to share in the costs of information that such registrant is obliged to submit to the Agency to satisfy their registration requirements under that Regulation. 6 6. This Regulation should be without prejudice to the full and complete application of the Community competition rules. 5 Dispute Resolution 1. All the registrants of the same substance shall submit jointly the information as specified in Articles 11(1) and 19(1) of the REACH Regulation. Existing registrants and potential registrants of the same substance shall therefore make every effort to agree on the joint submission of data in a fair, transparent and nondiscriminatory manner, even where a potential registrant intends to submit certain information separately in accordance with Article 11(3) and 19(2) of the REACH Regulation. 2. If an existing registrant refuses to enable a potential registrant to join the submission of data regarding the same substance, the Agency shall permit the potential registrant to join the existing submission, subject to the granting of a permission to refer to part or the entirety of the data concerned in accordance with Article 27(5) or 30(3) of the REACH Regulation and, if necessary, subject to the demonstration that an agreement has been reached on the sharing of the remainder of data, or subject to the demonstration that the potential registrant submits the information required in accordance with Article 11(3) and 19(2) of the REACH Regulation. 3. In its assessment of the parties’ efforts to find a fair, transparent and non-discriminatory agreement on the sharing of data and their cost in a dispute under Article 27(5) or 30(3) of the REACH Regulation, the Agency shall take account of the parties’ compliance with the obligations set out in Articles 3 and 4 of the present Regulation. 7
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