All products need to go through comprehensive inspections before they can make their way into the market. This is to ensure that the products are not hazardous.
This is not only true of seemingly dangerous products, but also of normal products that have components that are made of hazardous material. Many electrical and electronic equipment contain substances that are highly hazardous, such as cadmium and mercury.
The European Union is especially very serious about safety issues. The EU was the first to introduce the RoHS (Restriction of Hazardous Substances) directive in 2003, requiring manufacturers to limit the use of hazardous substances in their products.
The EU went on to further develop legislation and directives to improve the safety of products entering the EU markets even further. The ECHA (European Chemicals Agency) built the SCIP database to improve the REACH SVHC reporting transparency for products entering the European Union (EU) market.
REACH stands for Registration, Evaluation, Authorization, and Restriction of Chemicals while SVHC stands for Substances of Concern in Products.
The Importance of REACH SCIP Database
- The REACH SCIP database ensures the safety of products entering the EU markets.
- SCIP makes sure there is more transparency regarding the use of SVHCs
- SCIP influences purchasing choices
- SCIP enhances waste reduction
- SCIP enhances product recycling in a safe manner
The SCIP was first launched in 2019 and went through several stages and changes before taking a final shape. As of January 5th, 2021, it is mandatory for EU-based manufacturers to register their products with the SCIP database. This applies to all importers, assemblers, distributors, or manufacturers of products that contain highly hazardous substances.
If you are a manufacturer from the EU and you offer products that contain SHVCs, you should submit your data to the SCIP database. Enviropass REACH SCIP services are great in this regard because they will make the process much easier for you, verify the gathered REACH data, and take care of your SCIP notifications.
If you don’t declare anything on the database, you are telling the EU that your products are free from SVHCs. You can get in trouble for that if your products are inspected and it turns out that they aren’t.
Conclusion
Products need to be safe and must comply with safety standards such as RoHS. The EU requires all its manufacturers to submit data on their products that contain SVHCs on the SCIP website. As of January 2021, it is mandatory for all manufacturers in the EU.
