UK agencies release report on potential approaches to mixtures risk management under UK REACH

On August 17, 2022, the UK’s Environment and Health Security Agencies released a report reviewing potential approaches to the management of risks arising from unintentional mixtures. While this is in keeping with the discussions on chemical management in the European Union, the Agencies’ findings point – if implemented – to the risk of regulatory divergence between the UK and the EU. 

The issue of unintended mixtures is one of the key points raised in the European Union’s Chemical Strategy for Sustainability, which outlines the framework for a far-reaching reform of the bloc’s chemical legislation framework. In the context of the ongoing revision of Regulation (EC) 1907/2006 (the REACH Regulation) in the European Union (EU), the introduction of a Mixtures Assessment Factor (MAF) when conducting substance risk assessments has been proposed. 

Now, the report released by the two UK Agencies proposes the partial use of MAF when conducting risk assessments. However, it proposes limiting it to environmental risk assessment in aquatic media. Therefore, other media and human health risk assessment would not include this approach to tackling unintentional mixtures. 

Changes requiring businesses to include a MAF would need to be implemented in the UK through specific reform of UK REACH. In the EU, the Commission’s formal proposal to amend REACH is still in the works, and has not been officially presented yet. Therefore, the potential for divergence on this topic across both regulatory regimes will be clarified in the future.