How to search in PRIO
In the database PRIO, you can find out if a substance has properties hazardous to health and the environment by searching on the chemical name, CAS Number or EC Number. PRIO can also provide you with information on what chemical products or materials a particular substance may occur in.
Standard search – search on a chemical substance
You can find a certain substance in PRIO by using standard search. If you know the CAS Number or the EC Number of the substance, you can get an exact match by entering the whole number. When searching by the chemical name, you can enter the whole name or a part of the name. If you enter a part of the substances’ name, the search will result in all substances containing that part of the name.
A CAS Number (Chemical Abstracts Service Number) is a registration number for chemicals. It is an international identification number for chemical substances.
An EC Number is used for chemical substances on the EU market. It is a number assigned to the substance in the Einecs, Elincs or the No-Longer Polymers List. Einecs is a European list of the substances considered to have been on the European market between 1 January 1971, and 18 September 1981. Elincs is a European list of notified, new substances. The No-longer Polymers List is a European list covering substances that were on the European market between 18 September 1981, and 31 October 1993, and that, at the time, were considered as polymers. An EC Number contains seven digits following the principle xxx-xxx-x and must start with the digit 2 or 3 (Einecs), 4 (Elincs) or 5 (No-Longer Polymers).
In connection with the registration (including the pre-registration) of chemical substances within Reach, every substance that had no EC Number assigned to them was assigned a List number. The List Numbers always start with the digit 6, 7, 8 or 9. Contrary to EC Numbers, the List Numbers are not official identifications, but they are used in PRIO as a support to substance searches in the database. Read more about registered substances on Echas website.
External link.
Batch search – search on several chemical substances at the same time
A batch search makes it possible to search on several chemical substances at the same time. You can, for instance, search for all substances that are included in a list of chemicals on the same search in PRIO. When performing a batch search, use the CAS Number or EC Number of the substances.
Advanced search – search on criteria, materials, substance groups etc.
In an advanced search, in addition to searching for individual chemical substances, you may also search for chemical substances by selecting from search parameters such as Criteria (properties hazardous to health and the environment) , Material, Substance groups or Product type. You may also search by Reference, which indicates which source the substances come from, and by Priority level.
You can also search for substances by combining several search parameters from different drop-down menus with the AND or OR functions. For the AND condition, substances must meet all marked search parameters, which will result in a narrower search. For the OR condition, one or more of the selected search parameters must be met, which results in a broader search.
The AND or OR condition also applies within the drop-down boxes Criteria, Material, Substance groups, Product type and Reference. When performing a search, you may mark several options and select whether the AND or OR condition should apply. For the AND condition, substances must meet all marked options. For the OR condition, one or more of the selected options must be met.
It is also possible to limit the search by combining the search with different filters to prevent the search result from being dominated by specific groups of substances. This applies to complex hydrocarbons, per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) or particularly hazardous metals (compounds with cadmium, mercury and lead). You can also limit a search to include substances only found in chemical products in Sweden.