CRO days at ECHA

From 21st to 22nd October 2025, the CRO days (Contract research organisation days) took place for the second time in Helsinki, with Andrea Brunswik-Titze from Hydrotox GmbH attending. The meeting was organised by the ECHA (European Chemical Agency) and was addressed to CROs from the OECD region in order to promote exchange between regulatory authorities and testing laboratories. A total of 27 CROs from the EU, Ukraine, the UK, Switzerland, the USA, India and Japan attended the meeting to discuss regulatory requirements as well as the technical challenges involved in conducting ecotoxicological studies and biodegradability studies for REACH purposes. The topics focused on substances that are difficult to test in aquatic toxicity tests, simulation studies on degradation and bioaccumulation, and the importance of test material characterization and analytical challenges. The exchange was considered very valuable by both ECHA and the CROs, and further meetings of this kind are to follow in the future.

Further information on the event including the meeting summary can be found HERE.