First technical meeting of the Chromium Trioxide REACH Authorization Consortium

On 27 June 2012 ERA participated in the 1st Technical Committee (TC) meeting of the Chromium Trioxide Authorization Consortium (CTAC) in Brussels. The meeting concentrated on the formation and operation of the TC. The chairman of the TC and his deputy were elected, as well as the speakers of each "Use Group". A technical consultant company will be pre-selected by the "Technical Consultant Selection Committee". The final decision on which technical consultant will be commissioned will be made by the TC. The next meetings of the TC will be on 19/20 September 2012 and 14/15 November 2012 in Brussels. A meeting with ECHA (European Chemical Agency) will also be arranged in the autumn.

Background: Since ECHA recommended to list chromium trioxide in the REACH Annex XIV a consortium for the authorization of CrO3 has been formed. The goal of the consortium is to prepare the necessary documents for the authorization application, in order to secure the future use of chromium trioxide for some specific industrial purposes, including rotogravure cylinder plating. Altogether over 150 companies are members of the consortium: the rotogravure industry is represented by ERA members Maschinenfabrik K. Walter and IPT International Plating Technologies, who are supported by ERA and its staff. The documents must be completed in time to support the application for authorization at ECHA. This must be made within 36 months of the listing in REACH Annex XIV, which is expected in spring 2013, and so the support documents must be ready by spring 2016.