European Chemicals Agency

Yleistä tietoa

Chemicals are essential for life itself and for the many products that we all take for granted. Yet they can also affect our health and the environment on a daily basis. We touch them, feel them, and breathe them - both at work and at home. They are also very important for Europe, providing jobs and income for millions of European citizens.

It is important that we know about the effects of chemicals and how to use them safely. The European Union is actually leading the world on chemical safety and ECHA is responsible for implementing the laws.

ECHA’s work is to help companies to comply with the law. We also improve the safe use of chemicals, provide information on chemicals and address chemicals of concern. We are 568 staff members working at ECHA from 27 European countries.

As a central point of information about chemicals, we have the world’s largest database on chemicals on our website. It has a lot of information provided by industry and is free to use by anyone.