The UK has been abiding by the European Union’s (EU) chemical regulatory system for years; however, once the Brexit transition period comes to an end, it will operate under its own regulations.
According to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), the government will no longer abide by the EU’s REACH system following December 31st 2020, the Chemical Engineer reported.
After that, the UK will implement a UK REACH programme, which will replace the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA). This will be run by Defra, together with the Health and Safety Executive (HSE).
Philip Dunne, chairman of the Environmental Audit Committee, wrote a letter to George Eustice, secretary of state for Defra, recently, saying: “It is imperative that the UK’s future chemicals strategy after Brexit maintains high environmental and safety standards.”
He added that while UK REACH will mirror EU REACH, “the Committee still requires information on how UK REACH will work in practice, and how Defra plans to address the concerns of those in the chemicals industry around the costs of access and challenges in supplying registration data”.
Indeed, executive director of CHEM Trust Michael Warhurst has expressed his concerns about UK REACH, saying the British system will have a lack of information regarding chemicals due to not being able to access details on the ECHA database.
Currently, the UK is within the transition period of leaving the EU, with new rules taking effect from January 1st 2021. After this, there will be changes to importing and exporting goods, travel to the EU, and living and working in the EU, as well as the chemical regulatory system.
For more information about chemical analysis in the UK, get in touch with Sibelco today.
