UK failure to create post-Brexit chemicals regulations risks ‘irreparable damage’

Featured Sponsor

Store	Link	Sample Product
UK Artful Impressions	Premiere Etsy Store

Britain’s chemicals sector has warned attempts to create an affordable post-Brexit regulatory regime for industry are floundering and risk doing “irreparable damage” to UK businesses.

The frustrations emerged after more than 18 months of negotiations between industry representatives and government over how to set up a regulatory system for a vital sector for British manufacturing. More than 95% of manufactured products contain chemicals.

After Brexitthe UK left the EU’s ‘Reach’ chemicals management scheme, but repeatedly delayed the introduction of its own provisions after a government impact assessment found it would cost industry £2bn to duplicate security data already held in Brussels.

However, attempts to negotiate a deal with industry to reduce the cost of re-registering 22,400 chemicals with a copied UK ‘Reach’ system run by the government’s Health and Safety Executive are not bearing fruit, according to reports. senior industry officials.

Tom Bowtell, the chief executive of the British Coatings Federation, called for a ‘reboot’ of negotiations, adding that talks of creating a lighter model ‘did not address many of the concerns that led to this pause in the first place “. .

Industry claims that it is unnecessarily expensive to duplicate records when chemicals have already passed safety tests in the EU, but for legal and intellectual property reasons the underlying data in these records is not not available to the UK regulator.

However, conservation and environmental protection groups have said that unless the UK regulator is in full possession of the data, it cannot regulate effectively.

But Bowtell said a ‘sub-optimal’ application of UK Reach could cost British industry billions of pounds, and accused the government of lacking the ‘enforcement and creativity’ needed to find a solution. .

“If real progress is not made quickly, there is a risk of irreparable damage not only to the UK chemicals sector, but also to downstream users and chemical formulators,” he said at the conference. BCF annual conference.

Geoff Mackrill, the boss of Hull-based Teal & Mackrill, a maker of specialist paints which employs 70 people, said the prospect of UK Reach demanding a full duplication of existing chemical registrations in the EU could cost him crucial suppliers.

With some chemicals only present in trace amounts in some products, he warned that several European manufacturers would inevitably decide it was too expensive and time-consuming to duplicate their registrations in the EU to serve a UK market. more restricted.

“Our products are made up of a wide range of chemicals, but if an EU supplier removes one of these chemicals from the menu, then we have to reformulate, which is both expensive and difficult,” said Mackrill added. “The fear is that we will lose the ability to manufacture products and innovate.”

This year the government announcement a three-year extension to the deadlines for completing full REACH registrations in the UK, with these now required in October 2026, October 2028 and October 2030 depending on the tonnage and toxicity of the chemicals involved.

Steve Elliott, the head of the Chemicals Industry Association, the sector’s umbrella organization, echoed Bowtell’s concerns, saying that while the deadline extensions were helpful, they reflected “very limited progress” in the UK Reach negotiations. .

Elliott said Britain’s approach was at odds with recent promises by Chancellor Jeremy Hunt to boost advanced manufacturing through “smart” regulation designed to foster innovation.

“Unfortunately, such an outcome currently seems beyond us when it comes to Reach and, while time is running out, companies must make choices about future investment amounts and locations,” he said. .

The CIA said it remained committed to working with the government and conservation organizations to reach a workable deal, but added: “We need tangible progress. . . and we need it fast.

The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs said it was committed to putting in place a regulatory regime for chemicals that offered high levels of protection.

“We have brought Reach into UK law and put in place systems to ensure the safe and effective management and control of chemicals that protect human health and the environment,” a spokesperson added.