HSPA Substance Name /CAS No. Relationship
The REACH directive has a specific emphasis on substance identification which goes beyond the traditional substance definitions provided in the European Chemical inventories.
The European Inventory of Existing Commercial Substances (EINECS) descriptions and numbers are currently used to identify chemical substances. Each of those substances listed has a dedicated Chemical Abstracts Service number (CAS no.) and description. The CAS no. is the unique identifier for chemicals and related substances, including petroleum derived materials, on a global basis.
EINECS and CAS no. descriptions do well describe broad cut hydrocarbons from standard refinery processes, but they are less useful when it comes to more narrow cut and highly refined hydrocarbon solvents. The difference in refinement and distillation range is reflected in classification and labelling as well. Most hydrocarbon solvents are known as UVCB substances within the REACH framework and with REACH having a specific emphasis on substance identification; HSPA has developed a naming convention for hydrocarbon solvents based on the chemical composition of the substance. The HSPA Naming Convention has been incorporated into OECD Guidance.
ECHA has welcomed the approach to develop a more specific naming convention for this type of substances. REACH registrations will be done accordingly with new EC numbers to be assigned.
The hydrocarbon solvents described by a HSPA substance are a specific and more narrow defined subset of one or more existing CAS no.(s) .
For the respective products the CAS no. continues to be the identifier outside the Community and for global inventory entries.
The classification and labelling for REACH has been developed on basis of the HSPA substance definitions. This classification and labelling is only valid for products complying with the narrow definitions of the HSPA substances. Therefore it is important to emphasize that products defined through a HSPA substance relate to one or more CAS no. but not the other way round.
The reference between the HSPA substances and CAS no. (s) can be found in the HSPA substance CAS no. relationship compilation.
