The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) and Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) opened up a set of surveys in relation to the Article 33 provisions of Retained Regulation 1097/2006 on the Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals (UK REACH).
Article 33 of that Retained Regulation places duties on suppliers and retailers to provide information about substances of very high concern (SVHCs) that are present in the articles they supply. Those substances are identified as particularly harmful to health and/or the environment and are subject to special regulation under UK REACH.
The suppliers and retailers of articles containing SVHCs are required to provide the recipient of the article with sufficient information that is available to allow safe use of the article, including, as a minimum, the name of that substance. Any mid-chain suppliers or distributors of that article are also required to pass that information down the supply chain, eventually to the retailer.
Under Article 33 consumers also have the right to ask the supplier for information about SVHCs that are present in the articles they have purchased and the supplier has a duty to respond within 45 days, and provide at least the name of the SVHC.
This survey aims to assess the awareness of the duties under Article 33 of UK REACH, understand the businesses' practical experience of implementing and complying with their duties and obtain perceptions regarding the scope of Article 33.
The surveys are anonymous and the Secretary of State will review the responses which will help to consider future UK REACH perspective.
The surveys close on 9 March 2022 and are divided into two different types available in two languages:
