Chemical substances Provision of information

You can get information on whether everyday products contain certain chemicals that are harmful to health and the environment.

As a consumer, you can ask the retailer, manufacturer or importer whether articles contain substances of very high concern (sometimes abbreviated as SVHC). They are legally obliged to provide information as soon as the concentration of the respective substance in the article exceeds 0.1 percent.

Substances of very high concern are chemicals that have certain properties that are negative for human health or the environment and this has been determined in a formal process at the responsible European Chemicals Agency. The substances of very high concern are listed in the so-called candidate list. You can view this online. The list is updated twice a year with new substances.

The obligation to provide information applies to most items, for example from the areas of:

• Household goods,
• textiles,
• shoes,
• sporting goods,
• furniture,
• do-it-yourself supplies,
• electrical/electronic appliances,
• toys,
• vehicles or
• packaging.

It does not apply to areas subject to special regulations. These include, for example:

• Medical devices,
• pharmaceuticals,
• foodstuffs,
• cosmetics,
• detergents and cleaning agents,
• animal feed,
• plant protection products,
• biocides and
• liquid or powder products such as varnishes or paints.

The legal basis is the REACH Regulation of 2006. REACH stands for Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals.

none

• Forms: no, but sample letter from the federal environmental agency
• Online procedure possible: Yes
  • Free app Scan4Chem of the Federal Environment Agency
    • Android
    • iOS
• Written form required: no
• Personal appearance required: no
  
  

none

You can either use the sample letter or the Federal Environment Agency's "Scan4Chem" app to submit an inquiry about chemicals in everyday objects.

Inquiry with sample letter:

• Download the sample letter from the Federal Environment Agency website as a Word file.
• Enter the date, your address (as sender) and the address of the manufacturer.
• Replace "XXXX" with the exact name of the product. You can also add the number under the barcode of the product for secure identification.
• You can print the sample letter and submit it to your retailer or supplier.

Request with app "Scan4Chem":

• Scan the barcode of the product with your smartphone or tablet or enter the product name. If information is already stored in the app, it will be displayed. If no information is stored in the app yet, a request to the responsible manufacturer or importer is automatically created, which you can send with a click.

45 days after receipt of the request, you should have the answer.

• If not, you can inform the responsible monitoring authorities of the federal states.

none

maximum 45 days

none