The European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) has introduced a new tool called B-Risk to facilitate the assessment of risks that biocidal products may pose to bees. The tool is aligned with ECHA’s 2024 Bee Guidance, which will apply as of February 2026.
It should be noted that this will not apply to active substances in the review programme.
According to ECHA, B-Risk was developed in line with the “one substance, one assessment” approach. It is essentially an extension of the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA), originally designed for plant protection products, but adapted to meet the specific requirements of biocidal products, particularly insecticides.
What Does B-Risk Do?
With B-Risk, users can carry out the environmental risk assessments required under the Biocidal Products Regulation (BPR). The tool is particularly valued for its contribution to protecting bee health and supporting the EU’s biodiversity goals.
Key features of B-Risk for biocides include:
- Biocide-specific exposure assessments
- A user-friendly interface that automatically performs complex calculations
- Alignment with EFSA’s 2023 Bee Guidance for pesticides
- An integrated user guide that walks users through each assessment step
How Can You Access B-Risk?
B-Risk is accessible via ECHA’s Support page. From there, users are directed to EFSA’s R4EU platform, where the tool is hosted. B-Risk operates entirely online. To access it, users must register on R4EU and accept EFSA’s terms of use.
