It is meant to complement and inform the risk assessment, to provide supporting evidence that must be seen as part of the overall weight of evidence (WoE).

The process includes the use of known information from one or more (data-rich) source substances to predict the same property for a (data-poor) target substance, and it is one of the most common alternatives to animal testing for filling data gaps.

The practical steps for developing a category and analogue approach have been previously established.

The read-across approach outlined in the OECD guidance documents (OECD 2007, with revisions in 2014 and 2024), as well as ECHA’s Guidance (2008) and Framework (2017) developed in the context of information requirements under REACH regulation, have been applied and modified for use in various other domains.

In addition, ECHA is currently working on a practical guide for the application of grouping and read-across under Classification, Labelling and Packaging (CLP).

In this context, EFSA’s Scientific Committee identified a similar need within its remit and is developing guidance on the use of read-across in food and feed risk assessment.

The draft guidance is available for public consultation from 10 March to 21 April 2025