ADCR Consortium

On 20 April 2023, the Court of Justice of the EU issued its judgment in Case C-144/21 European Parliament v European Commission . The case concerned an action brought by the Parliament for the annulment of the Commission's Implementing Decision of 18 December 2020 granting authorisation of certain uses of chromium trioxide (the original CTAC authorisation). As expected, the Court annulled the authorisation decision, but maintained the effects of the decision until the Commission issues a replacement decision. This will very likely be a rejection of the authorisation, as directed by the Court in the present judgment. The judgment followed the Opinion of the Advocate General of 27 October 2022 , and is based on the following factors: Lack of representativeness, reliability and completeness of the submitted worker exposure data, leading to an insufficient risk assessment, based on which the Commission was not in a position to conclude that the socio-economic benefits of the uses in question outweighed their risks to human health. Failure by the Commission to ascertain that there were no suitable alternatives for the uses in question. The Court also considered that the conditions had to be met at the time the decision was adopted. This meant that the Commission could not remedy the lack of sufficient data by providing the obligation for applicants for authorisation to provide additional information in the review reports, such as exposure scenarios and related risk management measures, which were lacking in the risk assessment. However, the Court also stipulated that the effects are to be maintained for only one year from the date of the judgment, which means in practice that the Commission only has until 20 April 2024 to issue its replacement decision. This limit was unexpected; it was not included in the AG's opinion, but has likely been included in order to emphasise the seriousness of the above-described issues with the annulled authorisation, and ensure that these are remedied in future applications, whilst pushing the Commission to take corrective action as soon as possible via the replacement decision.

21 March 2023 The ADCR completed submissions for the five Tranche 1 chromate substances covering 11 uses in February 2023. These are in support of the original submissions made by the parent consortia CTACSub, CCST, and GCCA.

Work has commenced for Tranche 2 substances, and as such a request has been sent to Downstream Users asking for monitoring data for the relevant substances: Strontium chromate Pentazinc chromate octahydroxide Potassium hydroxyoctaoxodizincatedichromate

Update 10/11/2021: The ADCR consortium will be holding a first Telephone Information Session (TIS) with ECHA in November. These sessions aim to give future applicants for authorisation the opportunity to ask case-specific questions regarding the regulatory and procedural aspects of the authorisation application process. Members will be updated through regular communication channels when information becomes available.

Work has now started on collecting information to feed into the socio-economic analysis. Two separate questionnaires have been launched to gather information from suppliers including: Build-to-print suppliers Build-to-design suppliers The questionnaires are available for download, accessible through a unique link which can be requested from ADCR-info@rpaltd.co.uk

Update 10/11/2021: CSR preparation continues, with draft CSRs for all uses to be supported by the consortium being reviewed by the members. Update 15/03/2021: The Aerospace and Defence Chromates Reauthorisation (ADCR) consortium website has been updated, with information and contact details included for downstream users in both the EU and the UK. The first meeting of chemical safety report (CSR) expert group was held on 1 March 2021. The first draft CSR for passivation of stainless steel has been reviewed after comments received at the end of January 2021. The assessment of alternatives (AoA) sub-teams have been set up, with regular meetings taking place. An AoA specific questionnaire is being developed to be circulated to members.

Update 01/07/2020: this extended membership window has now closed. The Aerospace and Defence Chromates Re-Authorisation Consortium (ADCR) announced at the beginning of April that a window for new members to apply was open until the end of May 2020. Unfortunately, this announcement coincided with many companies in the EU being placed in lockdown as a measure to counter the effects of Covid-19. As a result of the lockdown, several potential new applicants have had to delay joining the consortium, particularly where decision makers within businesses, or potential consortium representatives have been temporarily furloughed or placed on reduced hours. The ADCR have therefore decided to extend the membership window until 31st July 2020 . This allowed time for companies to convene the right people within their organisations to provide the necessary support (e.g. technical, legal, or financial advice) for their application. Applications were considered from companies who use chromates within the Aerospace or Defence supply chains. ADCR’s technical support team are available to answer any questions. We will contact all companies and organisations who have registered an interest during the membership window, offering advice and answering questions on the consortium. ADCR Technical Support Team For more information please contact: ADCRInfo@fieldfisher.com

The ADCR is pleased to announce that a webinar was hosted in collaboration with the European Committee for Surface Treatment (CETS) on the 11th of December 2019. This webinar further outlined the value of ADCR membership to A&D sector companies, as well as provide participants the chance to ask questions or clarify any points. If you have any questions regarding this webinar, please contact us at info@adcr-consortium.eu .

A revision to the ADCR consortium cost structure has been agreed by its Steering Committee to provide certainty to SMEs in the Aerospace and Defence (A&D) sector supply chain. The ADCR consortium has been set up to address the continued use of chromates in the Aerospace and Defence sector where substitution is not possible and encompasses the entire A&D supply chain. Although applications will be submitted by upstream stakeholders, dossier preparation costs and application fees will be use-specific and will be shared by paying ADCR members who are end-users and are have an interest in that use. ADCR’s cost sharing arrangements intentionally mean that large companies bear a larger part of the costs than SMEs, as it is recognised that SMEs may not have the financial and/or resource capacity of larger companies. The participation of as many SMEs as possible in ADCR is extremely important. SMEs are vital links in the supply chain and will hold essential information on worker exposure and environmental releases of Cr(VI). SMEs can significantly benefit from their membership of ADCR as they will have the support of their customers in meeting their legal obligations in relation to REACH Authorisation. SMEs have expressed that they would much appreciate certainty from the outset as to the costs of applying for (re-)authorisation of the A&D uses of chromates. In response to this feedback, ADCR can announce that its Steering Committee has decided to review the terms of membership for SMEs and introduce a new cost structure. Its key parameters include: • For SMEs, there will be a modest fixed cost per use applied for . As a result, each SME will be able to estimate its overall authorisation cost by simply knowing how many A&D Cr(VI) uses they wish to support; • For SMEs, no late-joining membership fees will apply . The ADCR Consortium Agreement now reflects the new SME cost structure and all companies that had previously expressed an interest in joining the ADCR and have signed the relevant Memorandum of Understanding have been advised of the new cost structure. Any SME with an interest in joining the ADCR who wishes to get more details about on the new cost structure should contact ADCR-info@rpaltd.co.uk .