Speaking at a public hearing organised by the House of Lords, on June 27th, Cefic executive director Product Stewardship Peter Smith said the UK should stay closely in touch with REACH and operate with the European Chemicals Agency in Helsinki.
Smith pointed out that industry across the EU had invested heavily in REACH, developing an outstanding database of chemicals helping to ensure that all uses of chemicals are safe. Were the UK to leave the EU and ECHA, it would need to create an equivalent organisation to ECHA, he added.
“The European Chemicals Agency is the best organisation in the world to ensure we offer the benefits of chemicals while maintaining safety for the general public and the environment”.
Smith also referred to the recent public commitment made by Cefic with ECHA to continue to work more closely to ensure the knowledge base is maintained.