Glossary

ABS - Acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (chemical formula (C8H8• C4H6•C3H3N)) - is a common thermoplastic used to make light, rigid, molded products such as piping, automotive body parts, wheel covers, enclosures, protective head gear, and toys.

Annex XIV - List of substances subjected to the ’authorisation’ procedure in REACH.

Authorisation (REACH proceedings) - For articles with substances of very high concern (SVHC) such as CMR 1&2, PBT, vPvB, or endocrine disrupters that are in concentration > 0.1% (weight/weight) in a homogeneous material and without any threshold of tonnage.

BFR - Brominated Flame Retardants

CA - Competent Authorities

Candidate list - A list of all substances of very high concern, whose properties make them eligible to go through the REACH Authorisation procedure. The first version is due to be published in autumn 2009, with priorities to be established for which substances will be first to be processed through authorisation.

A chemical compound - A substance consisting of two or more chemical elements that are chemically combined in fixed proportions.

A chemical element - A substance that cannot be divided or changed into different substances by ordinary chemical methods.

Concentration - A very common concept used in chemistry and related fields. It is the measure of how much of a given substance there is mixed with another substance. This can apply to any sort of chemical mixture but most frequently is used in relation to solutions, where it refers to the amount of solute dissolved in a solvent.

Deca-BDE - Decabromodiphenyl Ether

ESR - Existing Substances Regulation 793/93

HBCD - Hexabromocyclododecane

HFR - Halogenated flame retardant

Parts per notation - A measure of concentration that is used where low levels of concentration are significant. This is often used to denote the relative abundance of trace elements in the Earth's crust, trace elements in forensics or other analyses, or levels of pollutants in the environment.

Parts per notation	Abbreviations	Examples
Parts per hundred	Denotes one particle of a given substance for every 99 other particles. This is the common percent ('%') = 1 part in 10² Very rarely 'pph'
Parts per thousand	Denotes one particle of a given substance for every 999 other particles. Denoted by '‰' [the per mil symbol] = 1 part in 10³ Occasionally 'ppt'	This is roughly equivalent to one drop of ink in a cup of water, or one second per 17 minutes. 'Parts per thousand' is often used to record the salinity of seawater.
Parts per million	Denotes one particle of a given substance for every 999.999 other particles. 1 part in 10⁶‘ppm’	This is roughly equivalent to one second in 12 days or one cent in €10,000.
Parts per billion	Denotes one particle of a given substance for every 999.999.999 other particles. 1 part in 10⁹‘ppb’	It is roughly equivalent to one cent in € 10 million or one second in 32 years.
Parts per trillion	Denotes one particle of a given substance for every 999,999,999,999 other particles. 1 part in 10¹² 'ppt' ppt can be confusing as it is sometimes used for parts per thousand - if you want to use "part per" notation in this case it is safer to use ppth abbreviation (but rarely used) or "per mil" ‰ sign)	This is roughly equivalent to one drop of ink in an Olympic-sized swimming pool, or one second every 320 centuries. To put "parts per trillion" into perspective, one part per trillion can be considered equal to: One inch in 1.6 million miles One second in 32,000 years One cent in $10 billion One square foot of the state of Indiana
Parts per quadrillion	Denotes one particle of a given substance for every 999,999,999,999,999 other particles. 1 part in 10¹⁵'ppq' ppq is more a theoretical construct than a useful thing, chances are you will never see it.	This is roughly equivalent to a drop of ink in a medium-sized lake, or one second every 32,000 millennia. There are no known analytical techniques that can measure with this degree of accuracy; nevertheless, it is still used in some mathematical models of toxicology and epidemiology.

PBDE - Polybrominated diphenyl ethers

PBT - Persistent, Bioaccumulative and Toxic

PCB - Printed circuit boards

RA - Risk Assessment

RoHS - Restriction of certain Hazardous Substances Directive

RRS - Risk Reduction Strategy

SCHER - Scientific Committee on Health and Environmental Risks - the SCHER is an independent committee of scientific experts of the EU specialised in examining the toxicity and ecotoxicity of chemicals, biochemicals and biological compounds. It is consulted in the process of an EU Risk Assessment.

SVCH - "Substances of Very High Concern", which are required to be authorized under REACH. These are substances which fall into one of these classifications/categories:

Carcinogens (cause cancer), mutagens (cause gene mutations), or toxic to reproduction (CMR category 1 and 2);
Persistent (degrade slowly or do not break down at all), Bio-accumulative (accumulate in human bodies and the environment) and Toxic (PBT);
Very Persistent and very Bio-accumulative (vPvB);
Identified from scientific evidence as causing probable serious effects to humans or the environment equivalent to those above on a case by case basis, for instance substances that interfere with the hormone system.

vPvB - very Persistent and very Bioaccumulative

TBBPA - Tetrabromobisphenol-A

VCCEP - US Voluntary Children’s Chemical Evaluation Program

VECAP - Voluntary Emissions Control Action Programme

WEEE - Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment Directive