title: Socio-economic analysis for the authorisation of chemicals under REACH: a case of very high concern?
abstract: Under the European chemicals' legislation, REACH, substances that are identified to be of "very high concern" will de facto be removed from the market unless the European Commission grants authorisations permitting specific uses. Companies who apply for an authorisation without demonstrating "adequate control" of the risks have to show by means of a socio-economic analysis (SEA) that positive impacts of use outweigh negative impacts for human health and ecosystems. This paper identifies core challenges where further in-depth guidance is urgently required in order to ensure that a SEA can deliver meaningful results and that it can effectively support decision-making on authorisation. In particular, we emphasise the need (i) to better guide the selection of tools for impact assessment, (ii) to explicitly account for stock pollution effects in impact assessments for persistent and very persistent chemicals, (iii) to define suitable impact indicators for PBT/vPvB chemicals given the lack of reliable information about safe concentration levels, (iv) to guide how impacts can be transformed into values for decision-making, and (v) to provide a well-balanced discussion of discounting of long-term impacts of chemicals.
authors.affiliation: Wageningen University, Department of Social Sciences, Environmental Economics and Natural Resources Group, Hollandseweg 1, 6700 EW Wageningen, The Netherlands. Electronic address: silke.gabbert@wur.nl.
authors.forename: Silke
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Gabbert
authors.affiliation: ETH Zürich, Institute for Chemical and Bioengineering, Wolfgang-Pauli-Str. 10, 8093 Zürich, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Martin
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Scheringer
authors.affiliation: ETH Zürich, Institute for Chemical and Bioengineering, Wolfgang-Pauli-Str. 10, 8093 Zürich, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Carla A
authors.initials: CA
authors.lastname: Ng
authors.affiliation: Federal Environment Agency (Umweltbundesamt), International Chemicals Management (Section IV1.1), Wörlitzer Pl. 1, 06844 Dessau-Roßlau, Germany.
authors.forename: Hans-Christian
authors.initials: HC
authors.lastname: Stolzenberg
mesh_terms: D003657:Decision Making; D004784:Environmental Monitoring / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence*; D004785:Environmental Pollutants / Q000009:adverse effects; D004787:Environmental Pollution / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence*; D033161:Government Regulation; D015386:Hazardous Substances / Q000009:adverse effects*; D006801:Humans; D018570:Risk Assessment / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence*
chemical_list: D004785:Environmental Pollutants; D015386:Hazardous Substances
keywords: Authorisation of chemicals; Decision-support; Persistent chemicals; REACH; Socio-economic analysis; Stock pollution effects