Substances of Very High Concern
The REACH category that drives most substance-in-article obligations.
Why SVHCs exist as a category, and why the direction of travel is phase-out.
SVHCs are identified because they carry a risk to human health or the environment that is serious, and often hard to reverse once it has occurred — cancer, genetic damage and reproductive harm sit alongside substances that persist in the environment or build up in living tissue over time, sometimes well beyond the point where the original use has stopped. That combination of severity and irreversibility is why REACH treats them as a distinct category, rather than folding them into general hazard classification alone.
Being added to the SVHC Candidate List is rarely the end point. UK and EU regulators use it as the first step toward a managed phase-out: substances can progress to the Authorisation List, where use requires an authorisation that is deliberately time-limited and hard to obtain, granted only where no suitable alternative exists and a case has been made for continued use. The intent is not to license indefinite use, but to create pressure — and a deadline — for substitution.
That reflects the precautionary principle behind UK and EU chemicals policy: where the potential harm is serious and hard to undo, regulators act to reduce exposure before the evidence of harm becomes conclusive, rather than waiting for proof after the fact. For an SVHC, that usually means a steady tightening of use rather than a single cut-off point — which is exactly why treating a Candidate List listing as an early warning, rather than a formality, matters.
Why getting ahead of an SVHC phase-out pays off.
Treating a listing as a prompt to act — rather than a deadline to manage — tends to pay off in ways that go beyond compliance.
Waiting until an authorisation or restriction deadline forces the issue means reacting under time pressure, often with fewer alternative suppliers and less room to negotiate. Getting ahead keeps that choice — and the advantage — in your hands.
Four routes to the same designation.
A substance only needs to meet one of these Article 57 criteria to be proposed as an SVHC. In practice, many substances meet more than one.
Two different lists, two very different consequences.
Confusing the two is one of the most common SVHC mistakes we see. Being on the Candidate List does not mean a substance is banned; being on the Authorisation List can mean exactly that, after its sunset date.
What SVHC status means if you handle the substance directly.
When a substance you manufacture, import or use is identified as an SVHC, the immediate consequence is heightened information and communication duties. Safety data sheets need to reflect the SVHC status, and anyone you supply the substance or a mixture containing it to needs to be told.
If the substance is later added to the Authorisation List, the position changes materially: continued use after the sunset date requires an authorisation from ECHA, granted only where the applicant can demonstrate adequate control of the risk or that the socio-economic benefits outweigh it, and that no suitable alternative exists.
That case rests on a specific set of technical documents: a Chemical Safety Report covering the risks of the use applied for, an Analysis of Alternatives setting out whether a safer substitute is available, and, where adequate control cannot be demonstrated, a Socio-Economic Analysis weighing the costs and benefits of continued use. Defence and other exempted uses often need a comparable case built and evidenced to the same standard.
What SVHC status means when it is inside a finished article.
Articles are treated differently to substances and mixtures under REACH, but an SVHC present in an article above 0.1% weight by weight still triggers obligations. The main duty, under Article 33, is to communicate the substance’s presence to professional and commercial customers automatically, and to consumers on request.
If the total quantity of that SVHC across all the producer or importer’s articles exceeds one tonne per year, Article 7 can also require notification or registration with ECHA. Suppliers of articles placed on the EU market above the same 0.1% threshold have a further, separate duty to notify the SCIP database.
Your role decides which article ties your obligations together.
Articles 7, 33 and 66 sit at the centre of SVHC compliance for articles and downstream use. We cover each in detail on its own page, linked below.
Turning SVHC status into a clear, workable position.
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