The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) has published a consultation on extending the UK REACH submission deadlines for transitional registrations.
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 international commitments.
It will take time to fully develop an alternative transitional registration model and, if the decision is made by Ministers to proceed, to develop and pass the necessary legislation. It will also be necessary to allow industry time to comply with new arrangements. Therefore, Defra also committed to consult on extending the deadlines for providing the full registration data.
This public consultation is seeking views on options to extend those current deadlines for registration, depending on tonnage and hazard profile. These are:
October 2023 for 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 a year or more; substances that are very toxic to aquatic life and manufactured or imported in quantities of 100 tonnes or more a year; and all substances manufactured or imported in quantities of 1,000 tonnes or more a year.
October 2025 for substances 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.
October 2027 for all substances manufactured or imported in quantities of 1 tonne or more a year.
The first of the current registration submission deadlines is October 2023, therefore amendments to the current legislation are necessary to extend the deadlines to ensure there is sufficient time for substantive development of the policy, and to make operational and legislative changes to implement the new model.
Industry will also need time to prepare for compliance with it. Extending the deadlines will reduce the likelihood of companies making nugatory investments in complying with current deadlines and data requirements. It will allow them time to plan their business decisions in relation to the extended deadlines.
Defra is also seeking views on extending the dates for the Agency (HSE) to carry out compliance checks on 20% of registration dossiers.
Comments must be submitted to the consultation by 1 September 2022.
Responses to this consultation will be used to inform decisions on changes to the UK REACH registration submission deadlines. Defra will not introduce new secondary legislation extending the current deadlines until responses to this consultation have been considered.
Defra has also published a written statement from the Defra Secretary of State on the consistency of the amendments proposed in the consultation with the aims of the UK REACH legislation. More information at hse.gov.uk