EOSCA attended the OSPAR Intersessional Correspondence Group on the Risk Based Approach (ICG-RBA) this week. As well as updates from the Contracting Parties on results to date from the first implementation round of the RBA, there were detailed discussions on comparisons of Whole Effluent Toxicity (WET) and Substance Based Assessment (SBA), experiences with the MARA/LumiMARA tests, and a look at the whole effluent assessment toolbox and experiences from downstream operations.

The impact of REACH Assessment Factors compared to those proposed in the CHARM model for the HMCS was also discussed, and this issue is likely to impact CPs even where the CHARM model isn’t used for assessments.

The ICG-RBA will be reporting back to OSPAR OIC in March 2018 at the Dublin meeting.