Regulatory preparedness for multicomponent nanomaterials: Current state, gaps and challenges of REACH.

In 2018 the European Commission adopted revisions to the Annexes of Regulation (EC) No 1907/2006 concerning registration, evaluation, authorisation and restriction of chemicals (REACH) to introduce nanomaterial-specific clarifications and provisions. Multicomponent nanomaterial (MCNM) is a non-regulatory term that has been used in recent EU-funded projects to describe nanomaterials with a complex structure and/or composition and which are expected to be increasingly used in products in the near future. This paper examines the regulatory preparedness of REACH, and its revised Annexes, for MCNMs.

Roadmap towards safe and sustainable advanced and innovative materials. (Outlook for 2024-2030).

The adoption of innovative advanced materials holds vast potential, contingent upon addressing safety and sustainability concerns. The European Commission advocates the integration of Safe and Sustainable by Design (SSbD) principles early in the innovation process to streamline market introduction and mitigate costs. Within this framework, encompassing ecological, social, and economic factors is paramount.

Governance of advanced materials: Shaping a safe and sustainable future.

The past few decades of managing the uncertain risks associated with nanomaterials have provided valuable insights (knowledge gaps, tools, methods, etc.) that are equally important to promote safe and sustainable development and use of advanced materials. Based on these insights, the current paper proposes several actions to optimize the risk and sustainability governance of advanced materials.

Learning from Safe-by-Design for Safe-and-Sustainable-by-Design: Mapping the current landscape of Safe-by-Design reviews, case studies, and frameworks.

With the introduction of the European Commission's "Safe and Sustainable-by-Design" (SSbD) framework, the interest in understanding the implications of safety and sustainability assessments of chemicals, materials, and processes at early-innovation stages has skyrocketed. Our study focuses on the "Safe-by-Design" (SbD) approach from the nanomaterials sector, which predates the SSbD framework. In this assessment, SbD studies have been compiled and categorized into reviews, case studies, and frameworks.

A roadmap to strengthen standardisation efforts in risk governance of nanotechnology.

A roadmap was developed to strengthen standardisation activities for risk governance of nanotechnology. Its baseline is the available standardised and harmonised methods for nanotechnology developed by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), the European Committee for Standardization (CEN), and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). In order to identify improvements and needs for new themes in standardisation work, an analysis of the state-of-the-art concepts and interpretations of risk governance of nanotechnology was performed.