Swedish Chemicals Agency updates PRIO tool with new criteria to identify hazardous substances

On 26 February 2024, the Swedish Chemicals Agency (KEMI) announced the latest update of its PRIO tool. The update extends the tool's criteria to include the new hazard classes in the latest update of the EU Regulation for Classification, Labelling and Packaging of Chemical Substances and Mixtures (CLP Regulation). The PRIO tool is a valuable resource to help manufacturers and purchasers identify substances to avoid.

The PRIO tool

The web-based PRIO tool is based on a database containing more than 16,500 hazardous substances. The database lists chemical substances with properties that are hazardous to human health and the environment. For example, it contains nearly 11,000 per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS). PRIO serves is an important resource for identifying substances that are harmful to health or the environment. While it is not legally required to be used, it’s designed for companies that want to go beyond existing regulatory standards.

The PRIO tool contains criteria for evaluating the health or environmental hazards of substances, based on Sweden's environmental quality objectives, EU chemicals legislation, and international conventions.

Latest updates to PRIO

The latest updates to PRIO introduce two new criteria and update three existing criteria in line with the latest hazard classifications in the CLP Regulation. The two new criteria are:

• PMT (persistent, mobile, toxic) / vPvM (very persistent, very mobile)

• ED HH2 (suspected of causing endocrine disruption in humans) / ED ENV2 (suspected of causing endocrine disruption in the environment)

The following existing criteria descriptions have been updated:

• PBT (persistent, bioaccumulative, toxic) / vPvB (very persistent, very bioaccumulative)

• Suspected PBT/vPvB

• Endocrine disruptors for human health and environment.

For more information and to access to the PRIO tool, please visit the Swedish Chemicals Agency website here.