REACH registration numbers

REACH registration numbers cannot be used to identify specific chemical substances, and are not valid for identifying chemical substances in CLP and on the Safety Data Sheet.

However, they are required to be placed on the Safety Data Sheet where a company (or its supplier) has registered a substance, and this requirement applies to substances in their own right, or as components in mixtures.  This is in addition to the usual chemical identification numbers (EC, CAS, Index number).

The REACH registration number is not required to be listed on the CLP label.

REACH registration numbers can have three different formats, depending on whether the registration is full, for a non-transported isolated intermediate, or a transported isolated intermediate:

• full REACH registration – 01-XXXXXXXXXX-XX-XXXX
• on-site isolated intermediate REACH registration – 07-XXXXXXXXXX-XX-XXXX
• transported isolated intermediate REACH registration – 08-XXXXXXXXXX-XX-XXXX

Note that REACH registration numbers can only be legally used where a registration has been purchased.  A company selling a substance which has been registered for REACH, but which they or their suppliers have not registered themselves, e.g. because they make or import it at less than 1 tonne per annum, should not use the REACH registration number on their SDS, nor should their downstream users).

The last 4 digits of a REACH registration number on an SDS, which identify the company which holds the registration, can be omitted for confidentiality purposes.

The purpose of a REACH registration number is to enable the regulators and customers to verify that a substance which claims to be registered for REACH has actually been registered by that legal entity, or their supplier.

Like EC numbers, the same format of number is used by other, administrative numbers, as follows:

• CLI notification, 02-XXXXXXXXXX-XX-XXXX
• SVHC notification in an article, 03-XXXXXXXXXX-XX-XXXX
• PPORD claim, 04-XXXXXXXXXX-XX-XXXX (exemption from REACH registration for R&D purposes)
• Pre-registration, 05-XXXXXXXXXX-XX-XXXX
• Substance which has an Inquiry made at ECHA, 06-XXXXXXXXXX-XX-XXXX
• Data holder notification, 09-XXXXXXXXXX-XX-XXXX
• Late pre-registration, 17-XXXXXXXXXX-XX-XXXX

However, none of these administrative numbers are valid REACH registration numbers.