Legal Notice

 

The European Chemicals Agency (hereinafter “ECHA”) maintains this website (hereinafter the "ECHA website") to enhance public access to information about its activities, and to fulfil its obligations falling under its mandate.

When a person uses the ECHA website, the person (hereinafter the “User”) fully agrees to the terms and conditions set out below. These terms and conditions are without prejudice to any more specific terms and conditions applicable to IT tools or other content or data hosted on or provided through the ECHA website.

1. Disclaimer

ECHA’s goal is to maintain this ECHA website and any information on this ECHA website available, accurate, up-to-date and functioning. However, ECHA makes no representations or warranties and accepts no liability for the availability, accuracy, content and/or errors of the ECHA website or any content thereof, unless expressly stated otherwise in this Legal Notice (see Section 3). This means that ECHA accepts no responsibility or liability whatsoever arising out of, or in connection with, the availability and/or use of the ECHA website or any information available on this website, unless stated otherwise.

The information that ECHA provides is largely of a general nature and is not intended to address the specific circumstances of any particular individual or entity. Further, the information is not professional or legal advice. ECHA cannot and does not guarantee that any document available on the ECHA website reproduces an officially adopted text precisely. Only the text of the Official Journal or the information listed in Section 3 is authentic and capable of producing legal effects.

Similarly, without prejudice to Section 3 to this Legal Notice, the information, documents, data and databases made available on the ECHA website, including that provided by third parties, are provided “as is” and without any warranty of any kind, either express, implied, or arising by statute, custom, course of dealing, or trade usage.

2. Limited use of the ECHA website

The User shall not transmit to, from or via the ECHA website, or post on the ECHA website any material which could be unlawful, harmful, defamatory, offensive or objectionable in any way whatsoever.

3. Information published on the ECHA website

In addition to the publication of general information related to its operational activities or otherwise, ECHA publishes the authentic versions of the following lists and information on the ECHA website:

  • The Candidate List of Substances of Very High Concern (SVHC). Pursuant to Article 59(10) of the REACH Regulation (EC) No 1907/2006 (REACH Regulation), ECHA is required to publish and update the Candidate List of SVHC on the ECHA website. This Candidate List is deemed to be the only authentic version.
  • The Biocidal Products Regulation (EU) No 528/2012 (BPR) list of relevant substances and suppliers. Pursuant to Article 95(1) and Article 95(7) of the BPR, ECHA is required to publish and update the list of relevant substances and suppliers on the ECHA website. This list is deemed to be the only authentic version.
  • The Community Rolling Action Plan (CoRAP). Pursuant to Article 44(2) of the REACH Regulation, ECHA is required to publish and update the CoRAP list on the ECHA website. This list is deemed to be the only authentic version.
  • Certain other information, such as ECHA’s individual regulatory decisions and the decisions of ECHA’s Management Board (http://echa.europa.eu/about-us/the-way-we-work/procedures-and-policies/transparency).

4. Linking policy

4.1. Links from the ECHA website to external websites

ECHA provides links to many European institutions, bodies and agencies as well as to other third-party websites that are relevant to its work. The links are provided for information purposes only. The User should be aware of the following:

  • If the User accesses another website through a link ECHA provides, the User is subject to the terms of use and the privacy policy of that website.
  • ECHA does not endorse or accept any responsibility for the contents or use of these third-party websites.

If one of the links provided on the ECHA website is not working, the User is invited to notify ECHA.

4.2. Links from external websites to the ECHA website

ECHA permits and encourages organisations and individuals to create links to the ECHA website under the following cumulative conditions:

  • Links can only be made to webpages that provide a link to this Legal Notice (http://echa.europa.eu/web/guest/legal-notice);
  • When the ECHA website is accessed via an external link, it shall be clear to users that they are viewing information from the ECHA website and that it is free of charge and not exclusive;
  • Links should not create the impression that ECHA endorses or supports the objectives or contents of any product or service, or of any scientific or administrative output of the information or text in the context of which a link is published.

5. Intellectual Property Rights Notice

© European Chemicals Agency, 2007-2024.

The reproduction, distribution or further use of information, documents and data contained in the ECHA website and/or in ECHA’s databases may be subject to protection under intellectual property rights and other rights, and their utilisation without obtaining the prior permission from the rightholders(s) of the respective information, documents and data might violate the rights of the rightholder(s). ECHA does not accept any responsibility whatsoever, and shall not be held liable, for any copyright or other infringements related to information, documents and data made available via the ECHA website.

For further information about intellectual property and other rights, please see Sections 5.1 and 5.2.

Some of the information on the ECHA website is subject to intellectual property rights and other rights of third parties (see in particular Section 5.1.2 below).

5.1. Use of the information, documents and data from the ECHA website

5.1.1 ECHA’s material

A) General rule

Subject to the terms and conditions of this Legal Notice, and subject to other binding limitations provided for under applicable law, the information, documents and data made available on the ECHA website, with the exclusion of materials subject to intellectual property rights or other rights of third parties and whole or substantial parts of databases, may be downloaded, reproduced, distributed and/or used, totally or in part, for commercial and non-commercial purposes provided that:

  1. the User acknowledges that ECHA accepts no responsibility and/or liability for any use made of the information, documents or data;
  2. the User does not alter the integrity (underlying meaning/message(s)) of the information, documents or data; and
  3. ECHA is acknowledged as the source: "Source: European Chemicals Agency, http://echa.europa.eu/”. Such acknowledgement must be included in each copy of the material.

Without limiting any other right or remedy available to ECHA, the permission herein granted shall automatically terminate in the event the User breaches any of the terms of this Legal Notice and, in such event, the User must destroy immediately all downloaded materials in its possession.

B) Exceptions

Whole or substantial parts of databases

The above general rule of permissibility of downloading and copying information from the ECHA website does not extend to whole or substantial parts of databases (a database is to be construed as a collection of independent works, data or other materials arranged in a systematic or methodical way and individually accessible by electronic or other means), with the exception of certain systematic data collection activities permitted below in this Section 5.1.1. The replication, in whole or in substantial part, of the ECHA databases is prohibited, unless ECHA’s prior written permission is given. All requests shall be submitted to ECHA through the information request forms on ECHA’s contact page.

Please note that the content of the databases may also be subject to pre-existing rights of third parties (see Section 5.1.2).

Systematic data collection

Systematic automated data collection activities (including scraping, data mining, and extraction and re-utilisation) of the whole or a substantial part of the ECHA website and the ECHA databases are generally prohibited. Notwithstanding, cultural heritage institutions and research organisations, as defined in Article 2 of Directive (EU) 2019/790 on Copyright in the Digital Single Market, may carry out text and data mining for the purposes of scientific research, in accordance with Article 3 of the Directive.

Specific terms for other uses may apply

In addition to the above, specific terms and conditions for other uses of materials protected by ECHA’s intellectual property rights or otherwise may apply, e.g. translations.

5.1.2 Material subject to intellectual property rights or other rights of third parties

The permission mentioned under Section 5.1.1 does not apply to content protected by intellectual property rights or other rights of third parties. Therefore, for material subject to intellectual property rights or other rights of a third party, the User must comply with the use terms associated with such material or obtain the necessary permission for reproduction, distribution or any other use from the rightholder. ECHA does not accept any responsibility whatsoever, and shall not be held liable, for any violation of any such rights related to information, documents and data made available via the ECHA website.

Such materials include, by way of example, CAS Information and certain data contained in the EUCLEF database:

  • CAS Information contained in the ECHA website is the property of the American Chemical Society and any use or redistribution, except as required to fulfil regulatory requirements and/or to produce reports required by national law or administrative policy, is not permitted without the prior written permission of the American Chemical Society.
  • Certain data in the EUCLEF database (EUCLEF Data) is supplied to ECHA by 3E Europe GmbH. The direct commercial sale of EUCLEF Data is prohibited. Use for non-commercial purposes and regulatory compliance is allowed.

The User is also reminded that pursuant to Article 10 of the REACH Regulation, the robust study summaries and study summaries that are made publicly available on the ECHA website may only be used for the purpose of registration if the potential registrant is in legitimate possession of the corresponding full study reports, or has permission to refer to the corresponding full study reports.

5.2. ECHA's trademarks

ECHA’s trademarks are its exclusive property. Their use is prohibited without ECHA’s prior written permission. Requests shall be submitted to ECHA through the information request forms on ECHA’s contact page. Information specific to the exploitation of ECHA’s logo can be found on ECHA’s website (https://echa.europa.eu/corporate-identity). 

6. Personal data protection

ECHA is committed to the User's privacy. Without prejudice to cookies (https://echa.europa.eu/cookies), the User can browse the ECHA website without giving away any personal information. However, in some cases, personal details are required in order for ECHA to be able to provide personal e-services, for instance helpdesk support, public consultations or software applications, in which case specific terms of use shall apply.

For ECHA’s personal data protection policy and more information on personal data protection, the User shall refer to ECHA’s webpage on personal data protection (http://echa.europa.eu/about-us/the-way-we-work/personal-data-protection).

For any general enquiry relating to the overall privacy policy of the ECHA website, the User may contact ECHA via the information request forms on ECHA’s contact page.

7. Miscellaneous

7.1. Breach of the terms and conditions of the Legal Notice

Failure to comply with the terms and conditions of this Legal Notice may have consequences for the User, including, but by no means limited to, the User being prohibited from accessing the ECHA website and databases by blocking the User's IP address.

Any User may also be held liable for any damage to the ECHA website or for any damage resulting directly or indirectly from the impairment of the availability or accessibility of the ECHA website caused by the User’s actions.

7.2. Applicable law, and dispute settlement

The terms and conditions of this Legal Notice are governed by Union law, complemented, where necessary, by the laws of Finland. Any dispute, which cannot be settled amicably, shall be brought before the courts of Finland.

 

Version 9 - 05/09/2024