EC inventory - technical problems
Dear European Chemicals Agency,
Based on the freedom of information in the EU treaties, documented in Regulation 1049/2001, I am requesting documents containing the following information:
EC Inventory should be a freely accessible database;
from the ECHA website, the search results limited to the first 20000 elements.
Also the download functions are limited to the first 10000 items of each query.
These are willingly imposed limits, that prevent real transparency and usability of data, which therefore cannot be labelled as "free", as they must be.
If I am wrong, please refer me to the correct information.
In alternative, I'd like to have the limits removed, which should be a very simple operation,
also possibly to be informed about the cause of their existence and who is responsible.
Thank you very much
Sincerely,
Alberto Bonazzi
Dear Mr. Bonazzi,
Thank you for contacting the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA).
We apologise for the delay in acknowledging the receipt of your message.
We are currently discussing the matters raised by you with our experts and
will be sending you our response as soon as possible.
We appreciate your patience and look forward to getting back to you soon.
Kind regards,
Dissemination team
Data Availability Unit
European Chemicals Agency
[1][email address]
This e-mail, including any files, is intended for the use of the
individual to whom it is addressed. If you have received this message in
error, please notify the author as soon as possible and delete the
message.
Dear Mr. Bonazzi,
We are writing to you in relation to your message of 16 June 2023, in
which you raise issues regarding the search and download functions applied
to the EC Inventory disseminated on ECHA’s website.
In particular, you refer to the fact that the search results are limited
to the first 20,000 elements of the query and that the download functions
are limited to the first 10,000 items of each query. You argue that these
limits would prevent a real transparency and the usability of data, which,
according to you, could not “be labelled “free” as they must be”.
ECHA takes note of your concerns.
In this respect, we first note that the entirety of information in the EC
Inventory is accessible by the users using the search functionality to
find substances of interest, in line with ECHA’s transparency mandate
under Regulation (EC) No 1907/2006 (REACH Regulation).
As regards the limitation of the number of search results or list entries
you can browse through, this is due to a technical problem with our
platform. This is by no means a deliberately imposed limit and we
apologise for this inconvenience. Our current dissemination platform has
expanded quickly in the past years and unfortunately it has reached its
technical limits. Due to this, we are currently building a new data
availability system which will be rolled out gradually during the next
couple of years. You can find more information on the development of the
new system in our recorded webinar
[1]https://echa.europa.eu/-/new-echa-public....
While focussing our efforts on the new and enhanced system we are only
providing critical maintenance to the old platform.
As regards functionalities that go beyond the public consultation of the
database, namely export/download functions, please note that these do not
fall within ECHA’s transparency mandate as set out in the REACH
Regulation. However, we are currently considering options to improve the
usability of the information disseminated within the context of the new
data availability system. In doing so, ECHA is taking into account
possible legal and technical limitations. We agree with you that it would
be a good and transparent practice to inform the users of any such limits
in place.
Kind regards,
Dissemination team
Data Availability Unit
European Chemicals Agency
[2][email address]
This e-mail, including any files, is intended for the use of the
individual to whom it is addressed. If you have received this message in
error, please notify the author as soon as possible and delete the
message.