ChemRegs Newsletter – November 2023

UK REACH proposals

Defra has outlined their proposals for an alternative transitional registration model (ATRm) for UK REACH, which is looking at allowing those UK companies who held EU REACH registrations before 1 January 2021 avoid having to pay again for the same data for the corresponding registrations under UK REACH.

Following the UK’s departure from the EU, the UK government established an independent regulatory framework for chemicals known as UK REACH. UK REACH retains both the fundamental approach and key principles of the EU REACH and is focussed on ensuring that Great Britain (England, Scotland and Wales) continues to uphold high levels of protection of human health and of the environment. EU REACH continues to apply in Northern Ireland under the Windsor Framework.

In response to concerns raised by the chemicals industry about the significant cost to businesses of accessing EU data packages to support UK REACH transitional registrations, Defra, alongside the HSE and Environment Agency (UK REACH regulators) have been exploring options for an alternative transitional registration model (ATRm).

The ATRm will aim to reduce the costs to businesses while continuing to ensure an overarching commitment to high levels of protection of human health and the environment. There has been an intensive review of the way UK REACH is implemented and the current regulatory framework, including engagement with industry REACH specialists. This statement outlines the policy direction, which Defra are confident meets the objectives of the project.

The review has looked at how UK REACH works as a whole. The starting point is how the intrinsic properties (hazards) of chemicals on the market are identified. In recent years, industry, the scientific community, and regulators have significantly increased the global understanding of the hazards of tens of thousands of chemicals. There is now more comprehensive information available on the hazards associated with over 22,000 chemicals commonly used in Europe. While the understanding of hazards is the starting point, it must be complemented with in-depth knowledge of uses and exposure of these chemicals if the aim of effective assessment and management of risk is to be achieved. Under EU REACH, data was only available to the UK on the uses and exposure routes of chemicals at the EU level.

In parallel, significant insights from the initial experience in implementing UK REACH have been drawn. Defra believe that as part of the review, it has become evident that UK regulators do not need to hold a complete replica of all the registration data on all chemical substances held under EU REACH in order for UK REACH to undertake its regulatory work. A more targeted approach can be adopted by using information already available and building on work done in the EU and globally to identify areas of emerging risk and shape our regulatory priorities. This will allow the detailed information currently held on chemical substances to be developed in a more targeted way.

The government’s ambition is to establish, for the first time, a more comprehensive picture of where and how chemicals are used in Great Britain. This is to make sure industry is best fulfilling its duty to ensure the safe use of chemicals and to enable regulators to assess the level of exposure and risk that chemicals present in Great Britain, and to take targeted regulatory actions where those risks are deemed unacceptable. The publication of the risk management options analysis for perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) earlier this year showed how this approach can work in practice.

Under this approach, Defra can tailor the requirements set for Great Britain registration of chemicals to focus on gathering information on the use and exposure of the chemicals, in particular those of higher concern. This can be augmented by requiring any further data needed for regulatory purposes in a targeted way, as new or emerging risks are identified by the UK or other global sources.

Progress has been made on developing proposals on which to consult in the following areas. These include:

• refining what information on ‘use and exposure’ in Great Britain registrants will need to provide. This is the critical information that industry would be expected to have to ensure they fully understand and manage risks, and that Great Britain regulators need to prioritise regulatory action
• reducing to the essential minimum the ‘hazard’ information required for transitional registrations and intermediates. This will mean that UK REACH registrants will not generally need to access and pay for data packages held by EU industry consortia
• significant reduction of the estimated £2 billion costs to industry associated with buying or accessing EU hazard information
• improving Regulator powers so that they can require and receive data from registrants quickly for regulatory or risk prioritisation purposes, ensuring they can respond to new or emerging risks
• reviewing the existing fees structure for UK REACH to ensure a more sustainable funding model, including exploring reducing the current fee levels for UK REACH registrations
• revising the UK REACH restriction processes to ensure there is flexibility to act as quickly as possible where risks have been identified, drawing on work by UK regulators and from other sources

Alongside this work, Defra is also looking at how they might improve the working of REACH in the medium to long-term and intends to consult on fuller details of the policy in early 2024.

Although posing savings for industry, the Defra proposals for the ATRm are proving to be controversial.

Campaigners are warning that the UK’s regulations now lag behind those of the EU and that people in the UK will be exposed to more toxic chemicals as a result. The safety information provided about chemicals will be reduced to an “irreducible minimum”, which campaigners say will leave the UK “lagging far behind the EU”.

There are concerns that the UK regime is much less muscular than the EU’s, with less funding and fewer staff to work through lists of chemicals to see if they are enough of a danger to health and the environment to ban. Campaigners have called for the government to follow EU chemicals regulations as standard, diverging only if and when there is a good reason to do so.

ADR Training Records

The Department for Transport (DfT) have published new rules about keeping records of staff training for persons involved in the carriage of dangerous goods.

The dangerous goods by road transport regulations (ADR) state that records of training received according to ADR Chapter 1.3 shall be kept by the employer “for a period of time established by the competent authority” and “made available to the employee or competent authority, upon request.” These requirements are set out in section 1.3.3 of ADR.

Until now, the DfT did not state what this period of time was. However, from 13 November 2023, employers must:

• Keep staff training records for a minimum of 6 years from the date of training
• Make the records available on request to the employee or to the Department for Transport
• If an employee leaves their employment, the employer must keep their training records for a further 2 years from the date the employment ended, in case of any subsequent issues arising.

Chapter 1.3 of ADR covers training for staff including:

• General awareness training
• Function-specific training
• Safety training

The requirements of ADR Chapter 1.3 applies to persons involved in the carriage of dangerous goods by road, such as personnel who are employed by the road vehicle operator or the consignor, personnel who load or unload dangerous goods, personnel in freight forwarding or shipping agencies and drivers of vehicles other than drivers holding a certificate in accordance with ADR 8.2.1.

The training for the Dangerous Goods Safety Adviser is found in ADR 1.8.3 and for the training of the vehicle crew, i.e. ADR drivers, Chapter 8.2 applies.

For more information on anything in this Newsletter, please contact us at info@chemregs.co.uk