Self-declarations of environmental classification at Fass.se

Since 2005, Sweden has a unique environmental classification system for pharmaceutical substances. It is a self-declaration system where each pharmaceutical company is responsible for their own environmental information, which is published on the open web-based portal www.Fass.se. Prior to publication the environmental risk assessments are reviewed by IVL Swedish Environmental Research Institute as an independent, external part. The present report describes the experiences from the review process during the year 2021. 

In 2021, 406 environmental risk assessments (ERAs) were sent in for review. 64% of the reviewed assessments received the comment no remarks and were recommended to be published, whereas the other 36% were recommended to be corrected before publication.

The number of unique substances that were published at Fass.se during 2021 was 394. Of these substances 50% were exempted from classification, 28% were classified regarding environmental risk, and 22% could not gain any classification due to lack of data. 

The work of improving the review system is an on-going process. As a part of this work IVL performs studies and activities to increase the knowledge of pharmaceuticals in the environment.