A UK chemicals industry conference on the new regulatory regime the industry has to deal with in the UK after Brexit has issued a warning that there needs to be more uncertainty over the direction the new regime wants to take.
The concerns were expressed in an online conference of the Westminster Energy, Environment & Transport Forum (WEETF) this week, the Manufacturer reports.
When Britain was in the EU, the sector was guided by the comprehensive Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals framework (REACH), which covered the production and use of chemicals and their impact on human health and the environment.
It also established the European Chemicals Agency, which dealt with technical, scientific and administrative matters in the industry.
While the sector has expressed relief that a no-deal scenario was avoided – preventing UK experts being hit with large tariffs – there is considerable uncertainty about what the direction of travel will be under the UK’s new framework, known as ‘UK REACH’, which was introduced on January 1st.
Steve Elliot from the Chemical Industries Association highlighted the uncertainty about whether the new body will opt for the status quo or divergence in the longer run by warning that “regulatory continuity” is the biggest cost issue and that during otherwise positive talks about the sector between the UK and EU, access to REACH was “conspicuous by its absence”.
He argued that the “huge distraction” of replicating the REACH database would involve acquiring information from 102,000 dossiers and cost the UK chemicals sector £1billion to put together, money he suggested would be better spent on research and development.
A more positive view was taken by director of the Health and Safety Ececutive’s Chemicals Regulation Division Dr Richard Daniels, who told the conference UK REACH could now regulate the sector in a way that suited the specific needs of the British economy.
He said there are “gaps to fill” regarding governance and the regulatory framework.
While most of Britain’s chemicals industry is now governed by UK Reach, the EU REACH regulations still pertain to Northern Ireland due to its special status in the trade deal.
