Brexit and UK REACH Regulation: Latest Updates

With Brexit being implemented from 31st January 2020, the UK has formally left the EU with a withdrawal deal and it is currently into an 11-month transition period. The UK and the EU have ruled out the possibility to extend the transition period beyond December 2020 and the UK will now exit the transition period on the said date, 31st December 2020.

The UK has also released policy papers on its draft UK-EU comprehensive free trade agreement (CFTA) and the annexes on its plans for future trade relationship with the EU.  The draft specifically does not mention about REACH, but it proposes to cooperate on chemicals regulation, share data and align approaches towards classification and labelling. The draft annex suggests that both parties would agree to continue and strengthen their cooperation on chemicals regulation to facilitate trade in a way that benefits consumers, businesses and the environment and provides for the protection of human and animal health. This may include promoting and encouraging cooperation between the respective public or private organisations responsible for the manufacture, distribution, sale or regulation of chemicals.

In our private and recent communication from June 2020 with the UK authorities, they have indicated that during this transition period, the UK businesses need to continue to comply with EU REACH in their current roles and in their supply chains. The UK authorities have indicated that, the extent to which the provisions in UK REACH will come into effect at the end of the transition period will largely depend on the outcome of the UK-EU trade deal negotiations. Based on the outcome of negotiations, the authorities might need to change some or all the provisions and any transitional provisions will give sufficient time span for the companies to comply.

We have already setup a UK based OR entity ‘GPC UK’, to support our 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