Brexit and UK REACH Regulation: May 2020 Updates

With Brexit being implemented, The UK has formally left the EU on 31st January 2020 with a withdrawal deal and has now gone into an 11-month transition period which is most likely to end on 31st December 2020. The negotiations between the UK and the EU for a vital trade deal have begun from 2nd March 2020 and they are currently ongoing. Two more rounds of negotiations are expected in May and the beginning of June.

During this transition period, the UK, though not a member state of the EU, will effectively remain in the EU's customs union and as a single market but it will be outside the political institutions and there will be no British members in the European Parliament.

During this transition period—

1. EU REACH will continue to apply in the UK and businesses do not need to take any action to comply with UK REACH
2. There is no requirement to transfer UK held registrations to an EU 27 legal entity in order to retain EU market access
3. Registrations, authorizations and restrictions in place before the UK left the EU will continue to be valid
4. The process for registering new chemicals under REACH remains unchanged, UK companies are still required to register with the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA)
5. The UK will recognize all new decisions relating to REACH made by the EU

The extent of the UK’s ongoing participation in EU REACH following the transition period will be determined by the outcome of the UK’s negotiations on its future relationship with the EU.

Sustainability Support Services (Europe) AB has already setup a UK based OR entity ‘GPC UK’, to support its existing and new potential clients, to be able to comply with the challenges posed because of Brexit on substance exports to the UK.

For more information or queries, please write to us at: compliance@gpcregulatory.com