REACH UK: O Impacto do Brexit na Importação de Químicos para o Reino Unido

• Autor(a) principal: Sôlha, Bárbara Magalhães
• Data de Publicação: 2021
• Tipo de documento: Relatório
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos)
• Texto Completo: http://hdl.handle.net/10400.22/18224
• topic: REACH; Substance Registration; UK; EU; CLP; DUIN; HSE; ECHA; BREXIT; Registo de Substâncias

Following the United Kingdom withdrawal from the European Union (EU) and the subsequent transition period after the 31st of January of 2020, the EU REACH Regulation has been carried to the United Kingdom (UK) law under the EU withdrawal Act 8. In this period, negotiations were taken to stablish an EU-UK partnership deal in the commercial chemical area such as in other fields. However, at the end of the transitional period, the outcome was a no-deal scenario. From the 1st of January 2021, the safety registrations of chemicals held in the EU REACH must be registered with the UK equivalent system (UK REACH). The details on how it will function are not available yet, however, it is feared that the registrations to create a new supporting data system to UK REACH will create significant costs including fees and taxes for new commercial data sharing agreements, administrative procedures, and complications on what kind of information can or cannot be shared in this new system. The UK REACH places a burden of proof on companies requiring them to identify every single substance that enters the UK and managing the risks implied by the chemicals they manufacture and market in Great Britain (GB). Companies must be able to demonstrate how the substance can be used safely and they must transmit the associated risks and management measures of the substances to the users. For some GB companies their role in the supply chain has changed under UK REACH. Companies who need access to both EU and UK markets acquired duplicate obligations implied by both regulations. Under UK REACH, these companies will be now identified as importers and will be required additional obligations such as substance registrations. The information UK based holders need to provide to Health and Safety Executive (HSE) will be very close to what holders previously provided to ECHA. Companies must review their roles in both markets and their supply chains to review certain type of measures to grant access both to UK and EU chemical markets. It is possible to submit a Downstream User Import Notification (DUIN) if a chemical is covered by a registration held by an EU based company and then commercialized into the UK. For UK REACH compliance, companies can validate existing UK held EU registrations, also called ‘Grandfathering’, submit DUIN or new substance registration as well as new products and process-oriented research and development notifications. However, in cases where EU company takes on registration obligations through a UK-based entity, UK costumers will be able to retain their downstream user status. EU companies can register the substances under UK REACH through an UK based OR or an UK affiliate importer. Tonnage ranges have been set to ensure that chemicals that are manufactured or imported with particularly hazardous properties and/or at high tonnage into UK chemical market are registered first. Under UK REACH deadlines for the full submission of chemical substance data starts from 28 October 2021, the end of the DUIN submission period and will be staggered over a period of 6 years.