Consortia - why?

The main purpose and advantages of consortia formation is the optimization of pre-registration activities. This includes data sharing and substance identification as well as the sharing of costs for testing, administration and registration. As companies wishing to register the same substance are required by the regulation to exchange data within SIEF (Substance Information Exchange Forum), data sharing under consortia does not imply any competitive disadvantage. Consortia also offer the opportunity to optimize the quality of the registration dossiers, to agree on classification and labelling and to leverage a larger pool of expertise. Thereby, consortia can help to strengthen the position of the industry in interactions with the Agency. The Agency strongly supports consortia formation and the submission of one technical dossier per substance to avoid data inconsistency and reduce workload.

The European Precious Metals Federation within Eurométaux, the European organization representing the non-ferrous metals industry, has launched a working structure for the formation of a consortium for precious metals – including silver and silver substances; gold and gold substances; platinum group metals and PGM substances. On September 15, 2007, the Precious Metals Consortium (PM Consortium) has been founded by 25 Founding Members, including some of our IPA members.

The IPA is an associated member of Eurométaux and will actively participate in the process on behalf of its members. >> more