A brief summary of UK REACH

A consideration of the United Kingdom’s version of the REACH legislation.

Under the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018, the EU REACH Regulation (‘Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and restriction of CHemicals’) was brought into UK law on 1^st January 2021 and is known as ‘UK REACH’. The key principles of the EU REACH Regulation are retained and apply to the market in Great Britain (England, Scotland and Wales), although UK REACH operates independently from EU REACH.

In the UK, the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) manage UK REACH. Duties relating to registration of chemicals and supply up to the point of retail under UK REACH continue to be enforced by the HSE. Enforcement at point of sale is carried out by local authority Trading Standards.

To comply with UK REACH, companies must identify and manage the risks associated with the substances they manufacture and market in the UK. They have to demonstrate how the substance can be safely used and must communicate the risk management measures to the users. The purpose of this is to share and streamline information on the use, properties and hazards of substances within the UK.

Currently the number of Annex XVII entries for restricted substances in UK REACH is 74, which was the status of EU REACH at the end of 2020. While this number has changed within the EU since 2020, to date UK REACH has had no additions. The situation is the same for substances of very high concern (SVHCs) included on the Candidate List. This remains at 209 substances for the UK, while EU REACH has continued to have entries added twice each year since 2020.

The HSE published an assessment of substances added to the EU candidate list in 2021 which identified 11 substances that were either already added to the EU Candidate List, were awaiting a decision on their SVHC status, or were proposed as SVHCs in a consultation process. The conclusion for these substances was that none of the 11 substances were added to UK REACH at the time of publication. No further assessments have been published by the HSE for subsequent EU REACH additions, and therefore the UK REACH position remains the same as EU REACH in December 2020.

Under UK REACH, information on the properties and uses of substances that are manufactured or imported above one tonne a year must be collected and a registration submitted to the HSE.

UK companies (including producers and importers of chemicals) who already had a valid European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) registration before BREXIT were able use this registration under UK REACH by a process called ‘grandfathering’. This meant that the substance did not need to be re-registered.

In terms of deadlines for UK REACH registrations, there are three important dates to consider (see table 1), dependant on the tonnage per annum and hazard properties of the substances. Before each of these dates, full registrations must be submitted to the HSE. The deadline for downstream user import notification (DUIN) has passed, as this deadline was October 2021.

Table 1: UK REACH registration deadlines
Tonnage band	Registration deadline
All substances ≥1,000 tonnes per annum Carcinogenic, mutagenic or toxic for reproduction substances (CMR) ≥1 tonne per annum Substances very toxic to aquatic organisms ≥100 tonnes per annum Candidate List substances (included on the list before 31st December 2023) ≥1 tonne per annum	27th October 2026
All substances ≥100 tonnes per annum Candidate List substances ≥1 tonne per annum (included on the list before 27th October 2026)	27th October 2028
All substances ≥1 tonne per annum	27th October 2030

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