Fig. 2.

Scheme of the three main actors in the development of safety test methods for chemical substances and their mutual relations and roles in the EU. The regulators lay down the required safety information for allowing a substance on the market; industry provides this information to the regulators, which assess it. Industry gains this information through safety tests, which are sometimes developed and performed in-house, but often obtained from test developers or commissioned to contract research organizations (CROs). Industry then sends their substances to the CRO. Industry can also fund test developers, such as universities, to develop or validate certain desired tests. Test developers and CROs can also obtain funds from regulators, who can also indicate directly (i.e., not through industry) which test methods are needed. The limitations of current tests and possibilities of new technologies need to be communicated to the regulators, so these can adjust the safety information requirements accordingly. Such information can also be provided by industry, but will then not be free of commercial interests