IUCLID

Key takeaways

IUCLID belongs to chemistry; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect IUCLID to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of IUCLID from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

IUCLID (; International Uniform Chemical Information Database) is a software application to capture, store, maintain and exchange data on intrinsic and hazard properties of chemical substances. Distributed free of charge, the software is especially useful to chemical industry companies and to government authorities. It is the key tool for chemical industry to fulfill data submission obligations under REACH, the most important European Union legal document covering the production and use of chemical substances. The software is maintained by the European Chemicals Agency, ECHA. The latest version, version 6, was made available on 29 April 2016.

History

IUCLID versions 1 to 4 1993: First version of IUCLID for the European Existing Substances Regulation 793/93/EEC. 1999: IUCLID becomes the recommended tool for the OECD HPV Programme. 2000: IUCLID is the software prescribed in the EU Biocides legislation to notify existing active substances (Art. 4 of Commission Regulation (EC) No 1896/2000). IUCLID 4 was used worldwide by about 500 organizations. These included chemical industry companies, EU Member State Competent Authorities, the OECD Secretariat, the US EPA, the Japan METI, and third-party service providers.

IUCLID 5 In 2003, when it became clear that the REACH proposal would be adopted by the European Union, the European Commission decided to completely overhaul IUCLID 4 and to create a new version, IUCLID 5, which would be used by chemical industry companies to fulfill their data submission obligations under REACH. Migration of data in the IUCLID 4 format was supported by IUCLID 5.1. IUCLID 5.1 became available on 13 June 2007. IUCLID is also mentioned in article 111 of the REACH of the REACH legislation as the format to be used for data collection and submission dossier preparation. The following IUCLID 5 major versions have been released:

IUCLID 5.0: 12 June 2007 IUCLID 5.1: 16 January 2009 IUCLID 5.2: 15 February 2010 IUCLID 5.3: 24 February 2011 IUCLID 5.4: 5 June 2012 IUCLID 5.5: 2 April 2013 IUCLID 5.6: 16 April 2014

IUCLID 5

Data Format and Exchange Data that can be stored and maintained with IUCLID encompass information about:

The party running IUCLID (production sites, contact persons etc.) The chemical substances managed by the company, namely their identity, composition, and supporting analytical data reference information like CAS number and other identifiers, classification and labelling physical/chemical properties, toxicological properties, eco-toxicological properties. OECD and the European Commission have agreed on a standard XML format (OECD Harmonized Templates) in which these data are stored for easy data sharing. IUCLID 5 will be the first application fully implementing this international reporting standard, which has been accepted by many national and international regulatory authorities. Numerous parties were involved in the creation and the review of the OECD Harmonized Templates, among them the Business and Industry Advisory Committee (BIAC) to the OECD, the European Chemical Industry Council (CEFIC) and other bodies and authorities. IUCLID5 can be used to enter robust study summaries summarising toxicologically-relevant endpoints. A Klimisch score is assigned within robust study summary as one field.

Possible IUCLID 5 uses Anyone can use a local IUCLID 5 installation to collect, store, maintain and exchange relevant data on chemical substances. In addition to dossier creation for REACH, IUCLID 5 data can be (re-)used for a large number of other purposes, due to the compatibility of IUCLID 5 data with the OECD Harmonized Templates. The European Commission IUCLID project team and international authorities are currently in deliberation in order to further promote acceptance of IUCLID5 data in non-REACH jurisdictions. Legislations and programmes under which IUCLID 5 data are certainly accepted are:

OECD Chemical Assessment Programme US HPV Challenge Programme[link removed] Japan HPV Challenge Programme Archived 2005-08-15 at the Wayback Machine(provided OECD guidance for SIDS dossiers is followed there). The IUCLID 5 data model also features Biocides/Pesticides elements. A dataset prepared for a substance under REACH can therefore be quickly complemented with data about possible biocidal or pesticidal properties and be re-used for data reporting obligations under the EU Biocides regulation. The data are available and can be searched through the OECD eChemPortal.

Technology

IUCLID development and deployment IUCLID 5 is a Java-based application, using the Hibernate framework for persistence. It features a Java Swing graphical user interface (GUI) and can be deployed on both single workstation and distributed environments. IUCLID 5 offers the possibility to be deployed in:

either a 100% open source system environment, using Tomcat as web container and PostgreSQL as Database Management System (DBMS), or a commercial system environment, using the Oracle WebLogic Server from Oracle Corporation as application server and/or Oracle as Database Management System (DBMS).

.i5z files IUCLID 5 exports and imports files in the I5Z format. Files may be swapped between different IUCLID 5 installations and dossiers may be uploaded to ECHA via REACH-IT. I5Z stands for "IUCLID 5 Zip", as the file uses Zip file compression.

IUCLID 5 system requirements IUCLID can be deployed on any current PC. For optimal performance, RAM should not be less than 1 GB.

IUCLID 6 IUCLID 6 was made available on 24 June 2015 as a beta version so that large companies and other organisations could begin preparing their IT systems for the full release of IUCLID 6 in 2016. However, individual users and SMEs could also download the beta version to get a preview, and to become familiar with the user-interface. The first official version of IUCLID 6 was published on 29 April 2016.

See also European Chemicals Agency OECD European Commission REACH Institute for Health and Consumer Protection Joint Research Centre

References

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Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with IUCLID

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what IUCLID claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In chemistry, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to IUCLID before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about IUCLID ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of IUCLID

In research: IUCLID appears in chemistry research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses IUCLID in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: IUCLID is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Cheminformatics, Government databases of the European Union, Java platform software, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for IUCLID outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

How to study IUCLID in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what IUCLID means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain IUCLID out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is IUCLID in simple terms?

IUCLID (; International Uniform Chemical Information Database) is a software application to capture, store, maintain and exchange data on intrinsic and hazard properties of chemical substances. Distributed free of charge, the software is especially useful to chemical industry companies and to gover…

Why does IUCLID matter?

Because it connects several chemistry ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study IUCLID?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on IUCLID.