The overarching aim of this project is to ensure that REACH Authorisation procedure indeed will be an effective tool to fast-track the most urgent Substances of Very High Concern for substitution, and to facilitate toxic use reduction by businesses.

This aim will be accomplished by realising objectives such as

• Providing credible, publicly available and comprehensively researched data on the most hazardous chemicals.
• Influence the official Authorisation Working list that will be drafted by the European Chemicals Agency in 2009, and to provide European authorities with expert knowledge and assessments on these substances.
• Encourage the authorities to adopt our list and prioritise these substances in the authorisation procedure.
• Provide advanced guidance to companies (mainly downstream users), consumers and regulators in countries that will be affected by REACH.
• Show that these very hazardous chemicals are present all around us in the articles and products we use every day
• Get attention from the media on the issue of REACH and illustrate the importance of a proper Authorisation procedure that will ensure the substitution of the most hazardous chemicals and their replacement by safer alternatives.

The list that will be published on the Substitution Conference in September, will be a first list of chemicals that should be phased out without delay. ChemSec will continue to update this list with additional substances as new data will become available through the provisions of REACH.