Principles for Environmental Risk Assessment of the Sediment Compartment, Proceedings of the Topical Scientific Workshop Helsinki, 7-8 May 2013

The Topical Scientific Workshop on Risk Assessment for the Sediment Compartment was held from 7 to 8 May 2013 at ECHA, bringing together experts in the field of sediment risk assessment to brainstorm and develop updated scientific principles and guidelines for assessing ecological risks of chemical substances for freshwater and marine sediments. Recent developments for particular substance types (such as metals) and a broad understanding of risk assessment methodologies in other regulated products and from schemes outside the EU were part of the discussion. The primary objective of this workshop was to review the state of the art and to develop updated scientific principles and guidelines for assessing ecological risks of chemical substances for freshwater and marine sediments. The discussion elements included: • Discussing the current state of the science on sediment toxicology. • Reviewing current risk assessment frameworks for sediments relying on the extrapolation from the pelagic community, and developing further recommendations on the applicability of these extrapolation approaches. • Addressing the water-sediment interface and the epi-benthonic community. • Establishing links among available lines of laboratory and field evidence on ecotoxicity, bioavailability, and ecosystem quality/function, and specifically for freshwater systems. • Developing general principles applicable to different regulatory schemes, considering the protection goals set forth by current regulatory processes whilst focusing on the regulation of chemicals under REACH and CLP. The broader context is biocides, plant protection products and pharmaceuticals, and broader legal instruments are also relevant, e.g. the Water Framework Directive, the Industrial Emissions Directive, and equivalent regulatory processes in non-EU jurisdictions. The workshop brought together over 100 experts from around the world to set the scientific principles for assessing risks to the sediment compartment in all regulatory contexts. The two-day workshop included general plenary sessions with case studies and topical breakout group sessions, where the participants discussed specific recommendations on how to use scientific knowledge for regulatory purposes.

JRC.H.1 - Water Resources