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The aim of the guidance is to deliver the basic material or building blocks for making metal risk assessments more ecologically relevant while adapting methodologies to different jurisdictions and applications. Metals are introduced as an intrinsic part of the environment, in many cases essential for electron transfer or direct reaction in many enzymatic and metabolic processes, in other cases tolerated by organisms that have adapted or acclimatised to their presence. The toxicity of essential elements is discussed within the framework of setting criteria for environmental quality and the speciation, mobility and bioavailability of metals in the environment is considered at length. The accompanying CD includes eight fact sheets: Risk characterisation - general aspects, 20pp., 11 refs.; Exposure assessment, 48pp., 32 refs.; Effects assessment - data compilation, selection and derivation of PNEC values for the risk assessment of different environmental compartments (water, STP, soil, sediment), 31pp., 41 refs.; Marine risk assessment - use of freshwater data for the derivation of ecotoxicity thresholds for marine species, 13pp., 47 refs.; Bioavailability - water and sediment, 23pp., 29 refs.; Bioavailability - soils, 14pp., 7 refs.; Uncertainty analysis, 22pp., 41 refs.; and Classification - classification for effects on the aquatic environment of metals/metal compounds and alloys, 46pp., 14 refs., The aim of the guidance is to deliver the basic material or building blocks for making metal risk assessments more ecologically relevant while adapting methodologies to different jurisdictions and applications. Metals are introduced as an intrinsic part of the environment, in many cases essential for electron transfer or direct reaction in many enzymatic and metabolic processes, in other cases tolerated by organisms that have adapted or acclimatised to their presence. The toxicity of essential elements is discussed within the framework of setting criteria for environmental quality and the speciation, mobility and bioavailability of metals in the environment is considered at length. The accompanying CD includes eight fact sheets: Risk characterisation - general aspects, 20pp., 11 refs.; Exposure assessment, 48pp., 32 refs.; Effects assessment - data compilation, selection and derivation of PNEC values for the risk assessment of different environmental compartments (water, STP, soil, sediment), 31pp., 41 refs.; Marine risk assessment - use of freshwater data for the derivation of ecotoxicity thresholds for marine species, 13pp., 47 refs.; Bioavailability - water and sediment, 23pp., 29 refs.; Bioavailability - soils, 14pp., 7 refs.; Uncertainty analysis, 22pp., 41 refs.; and Classification - classification for effects on the aquatic environment of metals/metal compounds and alloys, 46pp., 14 refs.