The European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) has published its 2011-2013 Multi-Annual Work Programme which provides a summary of the Agency’s planned activities during the next three years.

Comments submitted by the BUAV, as the UK member of the European Coalition to End Animal Experiments (ECEAE), have been taken on board by ECHA. ECHA has expressed its commitment to report ‘quantitative’ indicators about the status of implementation and use of non-animal test methods. We are pleased to see a firmer commitment made to properly assess the use of alternatives in registration dossiers.

In addition, ECHA also expressed its need to prioritise the assessment of confidentiality claims for dossiers containing animal testing proposals. This has been another of our concerns. The ECEAE has been limited in what evidence we can submit to try to stop animal tests from going ahead because of confidential restrictions imposed by companies along with a lack of available information on the chemical in question.

Currently there is high uncertainty on the number of registration dossiers and testing proposals expected and on the real commitment of industry to use non-animal alternative tests. Providing ‘numbers’ of registrations, using non-animal alternatives for example, will therefore be vital in order that we can assess the success of ECHA in promoting the use of alternative methods and reducing animal use in the testing of chemicals.

26th July 2010