How to Check a BOM for REACH SVHC Substances (2026 Guide)
A step-by-step guide to screening an electronics Bill of Materials against the REACH SVHC Candidate List — what SVHC means, why it matters, and how to check every component in minutes.
If you sell electronics into the EU, REACH SVHC is one of the regulatory obligations most likely to be hiding silently in your Bill of Materials. A single component above the threshold can put a whole product into a disclosure obligation — and the Candidate List that defines it changes roughly twice a year. This guide explains what REACH SVHC means, why a spreadsheet check is fragile, and how to screen an entire BOM in minutes.
What "REACH SVHC" actually means
REACH (Regulation EC 1907/2006) is the EU framework governing chemical substances. SVHC stands for Substances of Very High Concern — a list published by the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) and known as the "Candidate List." It is updated roughly twice a year and currently contains over 240 entries.
- SVHC
- Substance of Very High Concern. Substances identified by ECHA as carcinogenic, mutagenic, toxic to reproduction, persistent/bioaccumulative, or of equivalent concern.
- Candidate List
- The official ECHA list of SVHCs. Updated approximately twice per year — a BOM that was clean last quarter may not be clean today.
- 0.1% w/w threshold
- If an article contains an SVHC above 0.1% by weight, communication obligations apply down the supply chain (and, in some cases, notification obligations).
For an electronics BOM, this means specific components — connectors, coatings, solders, polymers — can quietly carry an SVHC above the threshold and put the finished product out of compliance.
Why a spreadsheet check fails
The Candidate List is a moving target. Manually cross-referencing hundreds of manufacturer part numbers against an evolving list is slow and error-prone, and distributor compliance fields are inconsistent and sometimes blank. A point-in-time check done at design freeze tells you nothing about the list update that lands three months later — when your product is already shipping.
SVHC status is not static. Because ECHA updates the Candidate List about twice a year, a one-time manual audit goes stale quickly. Continuous re-screening is the only reliable way to stay ahead of new additions.
How to check a BOM for SVHC, step by step
- Export your BOM as CSV or Excel, with at least the manufacturer part number and manufacturer name per line.
- Upload it — columns are auto-mapped, no template required.
- Each component is screened against the current ECHA SVHC Candidate List.
- Review the Regulatory dimension: flagged parts surface with the matched substance of concern.
- Export a PDF or Excel report to share with your compliance owner or customer.
What TekPulse screens (and what it doesn't)
TekPulse's regulatory screen covers RoHS 2 and REACH SVHC, alongside EOL and NRND lifecycle status. Every MPN is cross-referenced against the current ECHA SVHC Candidate List and RoHS restricted-substance data, producing a per-component flag set rather than a single pass/fail.
We are explicit about scope: TekPulse does not claim screens it does not run. Its current regulatory coverage is RoHS 2 and REACH SVHC — the two highest-impact EU frameworks for most electronics products.
Beyond compliance: the other four dimensions
SVHC is one flag. The same upload also scores market availability, technical lifecycle (EOL/NRND), geopolitical exposure including tariff and export-control risk, and environmental indicators — then rolls all five dimensions into one weighted score with a ranked "fix this first" list.
Your BOM is encrypted with a per-company key (AES-256-GCM) before it touches the database, isolated per company, and processed under EU data residency and GDPR. Our staff cannot read your data.