Consultation on extending UK REACH deadlines
The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) has published a Consultation on extending the current UK REACH submission targets for transitional registrations.
Back in In December 2021, DEFRA committed to exploring alternative arrangements for UK REACH transitional registrations in order to support chemical businesses, whilst upholding a high level of human and environmental health protection in line with our international commitments.
UK REACH
Retained EU Regulation 1907/2006 on the Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Registration of Chemicals (UK REACH) establishes a regime which regulates the use of substances in Great Britain, while EU REACH continues to apply to Northern Ireland.
UK REACH contains transitional provisions which aim to reduce the disruption to the industry as the shift from EU REACH to UK REACH took place following the ending of the Brexit transition period.
Current transitional deadlines
The current deadlines for completing the transitional registration process, depending on the tonnage and hazard profile of the substances are:
- October 2023 - substances included on the EU REACH candidate list before UK REACH came into effect; substances that are carcinogenic, mutagenic or toxic for reproduction and manufactured or imported in quantities of 1 tonne or above a year; substances very toxic to aquatic life and manufactured or imported in quantities of 100 tonnes or above; and all substances manufactured or imported in quantities of 1,000 tonnes or more a year;
- October 2025 - substances that are added to the UK REACH candidate list before the above submission deadline; and all substances manufactured or imported in quantities of 100 tonnes or more a year; and
- October 2027 - for all substances manufactured or imported in quantities of 1 tonne or more a year.
What the Consultation proposes
This Consultation seeks views on the Government's proposals to extend the:
- current UK REACH deadlines for businesses to submit dossiers for transitional registrations; and
- dates for the Health and Safety Executive (the UK REACH Agency) to carry out compliance checks on 20% of registration dossiers.
The policy options considered in this Consultation are:
- do not change the current submission deadlines (October 2023, October 2025 and October 2027);
- option 1 - extend all the current submission deadlines for each tonnage band by three years to October 2026, October 2028 and October 2030; and
- option 2 (preferred) - extend the first submission deadline by three years to October 2026, the second by two years to October 2027 and the third by 1 year to October 2028.
This Consultation is open for responses from 5 June 2022 until 1 September 2022.
For more information, see the:
