2015 Annual General Meeting and Annual Technical Meeting

Annual General Meetings represent the best opportunity for members to learn more about how ECETOC is helping them and to contribute their feedback.  Every member company delegate is invited for this typically morning-only gathering. Annual General Meetings are complemented by Annual Technical Meetings, which take place the afternoon of the same day.

Annual Technical Meetings are half-day forums following the Annual General Meeting to present and discuss issues that are innovative or currently relevant to the sector.   They sometimes take the format of a scientific workshop from which a report is also published.   Depending on the subject, invitations to Annual Technical Meetings are opened to interested stakeholders such as policymakers, academics and consultants.

This year's venue:

Pullman Brussels Midi Hotel
1 Place Victor Horta
1060 Brussels

Annual General Meeting For members only, 08:30-11:00

Followed by

Annual Technical Meeting, 11.00–16.30

Theme: Science Approaches in Risk Assessment – Opportunities to Agree

58 participants representing Member Companies, Academia and Regulatory Authorities gathered in Brussels for the Annual Technical Meeting held on 3rd March. Within the theme of “Opportunities to agree on Science Approaches in Risk Assessment “, speakers presented the Regulatory and ECETOC approaches to Ecosystem Services and Read Across in Risk Assessment.

The morning session on Ecosystem Services began with an overview by Lorraine Maltby of the University of Sheffield. Jose Tarazona, Head of Pesticides Unit at EFSA, then presented the Regulatory Approach to Ecosystem Services. The ECETOC Approach was presented by Stuart Marshall of Unilever who introduced the work of the ongoing ECETOC Task Force on Chemical Risk Assessment – Ecosystem Services.

The afternoon session on Read Across in Risk Assessment kicked-off with a presentation by Karel de Raat of ECHA on read-across under REACH. René Hunziker of Dow Europe then spoke on understanding ECETOC approaches to Read Across in Risk Assessment. He said that a crucial contribution by ECETOC in the context of read across is the framework put forward by the Nano task force that helps to categorise nano materials and makes recommendations on the relevant testing. Kees van Leeuwen (KVR Watercycle Research Institute) looked at areas with opportunities to agree on read across in risk assessment, reviewing the past 10 years, the current status and the way forward.

Wrapping up the meeting, Professor Jim Bridges of the University of Surrey provided an analysis and Review of the Science Approaches presented during the day.

Mamta Patel of Chemical Watch has written a deeper analysis of the meeting and its findings, available to Chemical Watch subscribers at

https://chemicalwatch.com/23054/europe-needs-to-agree-on-how-to-do-read-across