Brexit och konsekvenser för industrin avseende Reach

Storbritanniens utträde ur EU kommer att få betydande konsekvenser för europeiska företag bland annat med avseende på Reach-lagstiftningen. Branschorganisationen Cefic har tagit fram ett informationsdokument om hur man kan förbereda sig för Brexit.

Utdrag från dokumentet:

The issues

• Many EU and UK based downstream users are currently relying on the 21,000 plus substances registered under REACH by their upstream supply chain.

• With UK leaving the scope of EU REACH, downstream users may become importers under the regulations overnight and consequently would need to complete their own registration or rely on their third country suppliers to appoint an Only Representative (OR).

• As no import into the EU can take place until registration of the substance (as such or in mixture or intended release from articles) is complete (requiring several months), the above mentioned situation creates the risk of losing the supply of chemicals, requiring registration under REACH (as such or some ingredients), and is likely to impact industrial value chains. Moreover, different as in the UK (see below), no transition period to allow for the continuity of the supply chain is foreseen on the EU side.

• Following Brexit, EU-27 sales to the UK will have to comply with the relevant UK legislation (UK REACH) under extremelly tight and challenging timescales. To not discontinue the import for several months, a transition period for registration is defined if the substances to be registered under UK-REACH are notified within 180 days after Brexit. (At the moment, no equivalent notification scheme is foreseen at EU side.)

• Beyond registrations similar disruptions are expected for existing REACH authorisation holders and their related supply chains (e.g. component manufacturers, chemical formulators) who will no longer be able to rely upon authorisations granted to UK based companies.

• Performing studies, providing and gaining legal access rights to data for registration is likely to be a time consuming and expensive part of registering substances, requiring early alignment of registrants in the UK.