EU - An Intention to Restrict the Use of Substances Containing PAHs in Clay Target Shooting

​The EU Commission has requested European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) to prepare an Annex XV restriction dossier on substances containing polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in clay targets for shooting.

Clay target shooting is a sport involving shooting a firearm at special flying targets known as clay targets (or clay pigeons). Clay targets are manufactured using different types of binders, including coal tar pitch high temperature (CTPht) which was included in Annex XIV of REACH (The Authorization List) in 2017 due to its

- carcinogenic (Article 57(a)), 

- Persistent, Bioaccumulative and Toxic (PBT) (Article 57 (d)), 

- very Persistent and very Bioaccumulative (vPvB) (Article 57(e)) properties.

The sunset date for CTPht has expired and the use of CTPht in clay targets (produced in the EU as well as imported) presents an EU-wide risk. Therefore, ECHA will prepare an restriction dossier to restrict this substance. In practice any restriction of CTPht in clay targets should be based on a concentration limit of indicator PAHs in the clay targets.

Several alternatives to CTPht are currently in the market. Although most of them contain PAHs in concentrations lower than that of the CTPht, they may also present a risk to the environment and human health. Therefore, ECHA prepares this intention restricting on the placing on the market and use of substances containing PAHs in clay targets for shooting.

Expected date of dossier submission: October 1, 2021