The community rolling action plan (CoRAP) specifies substances for which there are suspicions surrounding the potential for their manufacture and/or usage to pose a risk to human health or to the environment. The current list of substances are to be evaluated over a three year period. The first CoRAP lists 90 substances that will be evaluated by the competent authorities in various member states under the substance evaluation process of the REACH Regulation (EC) No 1907/2006 (Article 44 to 48).

The evaluation process is designed to clarify whether use of substances poses a risk to human health or to the environment. At the end of an evaluation the evaluating member state may conclude that risks are sufficiently controlled or it may result in a recommendation for an EU wide risk management measure such as a restriction of a substance of very high concern, harmonised classification or another measure outside of the scope of REACH.

Substances are selected to be included in the CoRAP in accordance with risk based criteria that have been developed by both ECHA and the member states. The selection criteria include hazard and exposure information as well as information on the tonnage of the substance (including aggregated tonnage). However not all substances meeting the outlined criteria will be included in the CoRAP list, inclusion will depend upon whether further information requested at the end of the evaluation process will alleviate initial concerns associated with the substance, and also upon the interest and capacity of the particular member state.

The member states have evaluated 36 substances listed in the CoRAP for 2012. A conclusion has been reached on 4 of these substances, namely ethylene oxide, tributyl phosphate, M-Tolylidene diisocyanate and toluene. Regarding these four cases the evaluating member states have deemed it unnecessary to request further information, therefore conclusion documents have been drawn up which are now published on the ECHA website. The conclusions of the member states on each of the four substances are described in brief below.

Ethylene Oxide: the evaluation concluded that community level agreement is required on an acceptable risk level for both workers and the general population regarding the carcinogenic potential of ethylene oxide. Furthermore in addition to the current harmonized classification, ethylene oxide also fulfils the criteria required to be classified as skin sensitisation category 1, H317.

Tributyl Phosphate: the evaluating member state determined that existing information is sufficient and no further information is required. Current CLP classification is considered appropriate.

m-Tolylidene diisocyanate (TDI): the evaluation resolved that current classification is appropriate. It was concluded that where there is good control of exposures and compliance with established occupational exposure limits, isocyanate asthma (condition associated with exposure to the substance) can be minimised.

Toluene: the evaluation established that the existing EU indicative exposure limit of 50ppm could be too high. The committee deemed 20ppm to be a more appropriate DNEL for workers via the inhalation route and should be communicated to the Scientific Committee on Occupational Exposure Limits (SCOEL). These recommendations were communicated to registrants during the evaluation process and the Finnish competent authority concluded that it is not necessary to request new information for the substance and that no follow up action is required.

For more extensive information on this topic, the published conclusion documents for each of the four substances can be obtained from the ECHA website at: http://echa.europa.eu/fr/information-on-chemicals/evaluation/community-rolling-action-plan/corap-table

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