What is a SIEF ?

The Substance Information Exchange Fora (SIEFs) are established to facilitate the sharing of information, avoid duplication of new studies and agree on Classification and labelling if necessary. SIEFs are formed by companies that intend to register the same substance. A SIEF has no prescribed legal form, but it is a forum to share data and other information on a given substance. Joining a Substance Information Exchange Forum (SIEF) is a legal obligation of all registrants.

SIEFs are independent - they are not "owned" by ECHA. At the same time, they have a critical role within REACH. SIEF activities happen outside REACH-IT. The structure and communication needs to be organised by the SIEF members themselves. A good practice is to periodically update all SIEF members about the latest progress.

A SIEF is a forum to help registrants who intend to register the same substance. It is there to facilitate data sharing between the companies, hence to avoid duplication of studies (unnecessary testing), and to lead to agreed classification and labelling.

ECHA considers that you need to join a SIEF now if you intend to register by 1st December 2010. If you decide to postpone your registration or you do not need to register, you can change your SIEF status in REACH-IT and inform the Lead Registrant (LR) or SIEF Formation Facilitator (SFF).

SIEF Members need to nominate a LR to submit the joint registration dossier. The joint submission contains the main part of the technical dossier including the classification and labelling of the substance, (robust) study summaries and the proposal for further testing, if applicable. The LR acts as a contact point for the registrants of other substances who want to 'read across' to the substance data for their own substance.