EINECS number

The EINECS number (for European Inventory of Existing Chemical Substances) is a registry number given to each chemical substance commercially available in the European Union between 1 January 1971 and 18 September 1981. The inventory was created by Directive 67/548/EEC concerning the labeling of dangerous substances: the EINECS number(s) must appear on the label and the packaging of dangerous substances.

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As from 19 September 1981, the inventory has been replaced by the European List of Notified Chemical Substances (ELINCS). All "new" substances brought on to the European market are allocated an ELINCS number after their notification to the European Commission. The ELINCS number is also obligatory on labels and packaging.

And the No-Longer Polymers (NLP): Substances to be included in this list have been on the EU market between September 18, 1981, and October 31, 1993 and satisfy the requirement that they were considered to be polymers under the reporting rules for EINECS but are no longer considered to be polymers under the 7th amendment. Therefore to create the no-longer polymer list industry was asked to submit their candidates. The attached list is based on these submissions.

The term EC number is now preferred to the outmoded "EINECS/ELINCS/NLP number" designations, but this is not to be confused with the Enzyme Commission EC numbers.

There are 100,204 different substances in the EINECS, 4,381 in ELINCS (2006 Publication) and 703 in NLP.

Format

An EINECS number is a seven-digit system number of the form 2XX-XXX-X or 3XX-XXX-X, starting at 200-001-8.

An ELINCS number is a seven-digit system number of the form 4XX-XXX-X, starting at 400-010-9.

A NLP number is a seven-digit system number of the form 5XX-XXX-X, starting at 500-001-0.

The EINECS/ELINCS/EC Number may be written in a general form as:

  NNN-NNN-R
  123-456-0

In which R represents the check digit and N represents a fundamental sequential number. The check digit is derived from the following formula:

  1N + 2N + 3N + 4N + 5N + 6N        R
  --------------------------- = Q + --
                11                  11

In which Q represents an integer which is discarded.

See also

• CAS registry number
• Registration, Evaluation and Authorization of Chemicals (REACH)