The European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) Board of Appeal has agreed with Cruelty Free Europe in a ruling that could save hundreds of fish from cruel tests.

A chemical produced by BASF was originally expected to be made at a volume of up to 999 tonnes per year. According to EU chemicals regulations, REACH, the more you make of a new chemical, the more information you need to provide, often including information from animal tests.

Following ECHA’s request for more safety information, which meant that more animal tests would have had to be carried out, the company reduced its production to less than 99 tonnes per year.

However, despite this reduction, ECHA continued to request more information and therefore animal tests.

In June 2020, Cruelty Free Europe successfully applied to intervene in an appeal brought by BASF to the Agency’s Board of Appeal against ECHA’s decision.

In its decision announced this week, the Board of Appeal agreed with us that ECHA had “breached its duty to ensure that the Appellants carry out studies on vertebrate animals only as a last resort” and decided that the tests on fish, which could have caused deformity and even death, should not be carried out.  The Board’s decision has also set an important precedent in ensuring that ECHA takes reduced production volumes into account when considering orders for new tests.

Dr Katy Taylor, our Director of Science & Regulatory Affairs, said: “This is the latest example of ECHA failing in its responsibility to ensure animal testing is only ever used as a last resort under REACH. ECHA had both ample opportunity and a legal obligation to take the crucial new information about reduced production volumes into account but chose not to.

“We hope that ECHA accepts the decision of its own Board of Appeal when reconsidering whether to approve this product. We will also be contacting ECHA to make sure that it updates the information it sends to companies to reflect this decision.”

Our European Citizens’ Initiative (ECI) calls upon the European Commission to ensure that human health and the environment are protected by managing chemicals without the addition of new animal testing requirements.

Help us to transform European chemicals regulations NOW and end animal testing by signing the ECI.