EU and UK chemicals law
REACH data sharing: when your test data has a price
Updated
Under REACH a company that already registered a substance can be asked to share its studies with a later registrant, and paid a share of what they cost. That is the one place the law already values materials test data.
How a later registrant finds you
ECHA's inquiry process puts potential registrants and previous registrants in contact with each other to share data and submit a joint registration, and gives the newcomer the previous registrants' names and addresses so it can request the sharing of existing data.
Source: ECHA, the REACH inquiry
ECHA says sharing in this way reduces registration costs and avoids unnecessary testing, especially on vertebrate animals.
Source: ECHA, data sharing
What the cost-sharing rule requires
Implementing Regulation (EU) 2016/9 says costs of sharing and jointly submitting information should be determined in a fair, transparent and non-discriminatory manner, that registrants obliged to share shall make every effort to agree, and that each cost-sharing model should carry a reimbursement mechanism for registrants who join later.
Source: Implementing Regulation (EU) 2016/9
It also asks the parties to keep annual records of costs incurred and compensation received. For the US counterpart, see TSCA data reimbursement.