The European Chemical Industry Council (Cefic) posted information on Feb. 10 regarding "letters of access," which companies may use to document their right to refer to toxicological and other data owned by different companies when registering substances manufactured by them. Under Article 10(a) of the European Union's (EU) Registration, Evaluation and Authorization of Chemicals (REACH) regulations, registrants must be "in legitimate possession of or have permission to" refer to studies they used in registering their chemicals.
According to Cefic, a letter of access may grant a company access to one or more toxicological or exposure studies conducted by another company, or access to information from an entire Substance Information Exchange Forum (SIEF). SIEFs are formed under REACH to prevent manufacturers of the same chemicals from performing redundant animal toxicity tests.
Recommendations of Cefic regarding letters of access can be found by
clicking here.