ECHA Board of Appeal confirms tonnage downgrades made after receipt of a draft compliance check decision must be considered

In case A-001-2024, in which PETA Science Consortium International e.V. intervened on behalf of the Appellant, LANXESS Deutschland GmbH, the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) Board of Appeal has reiterated that tonnage downgrades made after receipt of a draft compliance check decision must be considered unless they amount to an abuse of procedure. Consequently, the Board of Appeal annulled the contested decision requiring an extended one-generation reproductive toxicity test which would have likely involved the use of more than a thousand animals.

ECHA had requested this test without valid justification despite clear regulatory requirements that animal testing must be conducted only as a last resort. This case is part of a growing trend where the Board of Appeal has reinforced ECHA’s obligation to consider all relevant information regarding tonnage downgrades, highlighting the importance of challenging unjustified animal testing demands.

This Board of Appeal decision is particularly relevant because it requires ECHA to use the most recent tonnage data in its compliance checks, ensuring that test requests—often involving hundreds of animals—are based on up-to-date information. For more information about the case, click here.