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 is no longer a member state of the EU and until the end of the transition period market access would continue the same terms as before. During this transition period, the UK will continue to remain strongly committed to the effective and safe management of chemicals. The UK will exit the transition period on the already set date- 31st December 2020. 

The EU and the UK have formally begun the ninth and final round of talks on a post-Brexit free trade treaty on September 29 which are currently ongoing, and the outcomde of negotiations is still awaited. 

During the transition period: 

• EU REACH will continue to apply in the UK and businesses do not need to take any action to comply with UK REACH 

• There is no requirement to transfer UK held registrations to an EU 27 legal entity in order to retain EU market access 

• Registrations, authorisations and restrictions in place before the UK left the EU continue to be valid 

• The process for registering new chemicals under REACH remain unchanged, UK companies are still required to register with the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) 

• The UK will recognise all new decisions relating to REACH made by the EU 

Post transition period: 

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) will play a key role in the UK's chemicals regulatory process together with the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) and the Environment Agency (EA) to ensure the effective and safe management of chemicals to safeguard human health and the environment. 

The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), early in September 2020, has announced tonnage band specific, staggered submission deadlines that will apply for the full submission of data. The full registration dossiers would hence need to be submitted within 2, 4 or 6 years, starting from October 28, 2021.  

In a private and very recent (September 2020) communication of Global Product Compliance (Europe) AB with the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), 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. The HSE authorities have indicated that the future legislation is likely to be similar to that which was drawn up for a “no deal” scenario (UK REACH).   

Global Product Compliance (Europe) AB has already set up 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@uk.gpcregulatory.com