Consultation on UK REACH

Overview

This public consultation on UK REACH, which launched on 16th May, will remain open throughout the pre-election period and has been extended to close on 25th July.

Annex B:  Use and exposure information requirements have been amended since they were published.

The Government is consulting on changes to reducing costs to businesses moving from EU REACH regime to UK REACH, whilst upholding existing human health and environmental protections. This includes reducing duplication and speeding up decision-making. We are also consulting on proposals to introduce further protections against unnecessary animal testing.

This consultation is seeking stakeholders’ views on the UK government’s proposals to amend the current transitional provisions under UK REACH for submitting registration information to the Health and Safety Executive (HSE). Following an in-depth analysis of the current UK REACH requirements, Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), working with the HSE and the Environment Agency (EA) have devised an Alternative Transitional Registration model (ATRm) for UK REACH. The aim of this model is to uphold existing human health and environmental protections (by gaining better information on the use and exposure of substances in Great Britain (England, Scotland and Wales)), while reducing costs to businesses transitioning from EU REACH to UK REACH. Following the standard consultation questions set out in Part One, the details and consultation questions on the ATRm can be found in Part Two.  

As part of our ongoing project to improve UK REACH, we are also consulting on proposals for changes to the restriction and reporting process, as well as proposals to introduce further protections against unnecessary animal testing. These proposals can be found in Part Three and represent the immediate areas we have identified for improvement which form part of our ongoing review for improvement of UK REACH operations. Part Four covers and seeks stakeholders’ views on impacts to trade. Part Five provides further detail on the UK REACH Article 1 consistency statement. Finally, Part Six will provide a list of all the consultation questions covered in this document.  

This consultation will provide us with a useful opportunity to consider stakeholder views at this stage of our policy development before introducing legislative changes necessary to bring the proposed changes into effect. This will be followed by a second consultation, which we plan to support with a Statutory Instrument and a final impact assessment. As required under the Environment Act 2021, we will publish, before or alongside the second consultation, an explanation of why the Secretary of State considers that the provision to be made by the regulations is consistent with Article 1 of UK REACH (see Part Five for further detail).  

 Confidentiality and data protection

If you click on ‘Yes’ in response to the question asking if you would like anything in your response to be kept confidential, you are asked to state clearly what information you would like to be kept as confidential and explain your reasons for confidentiality. The reason for this is that information in response to this consultation may be subject to release to the public or other parties in accordance with the access to information law (these are primarily the Environmental Information Regulations 2004 (EIRs), the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA) and the Data Protection Act 2018 (DPA)). 

We have obligations, mainly under the EIRs, FOIA and DPA, to disclose information to particular recipients or to the public in certain circumstances. In view of this, your explanation of your reasons for requesting confidentiality for all or part of your response would help us balance these obligations for disclosure against any obligation of confidentiality. If we receive a request for the information that you have provided in your response to this consultation, we will take full account of your reasons for requesting confidentiality of your response, but we cannot guarantee that confidentiality can be maintained in all circumstances. 

If you click on ‘No’ in response to the question asking if you would like anything in your response to be kept confidential, we will be able to release the content of your response to the public, but we will not make your personal name and private contact details publicly available. 

There may be occasions when Defra will share the information you provide in response to the consultation, including any personal data with external analysts. This is for the purposes of consultation response analysis and provision of a report of the summary of responses only.   

Compliance with the consultation principles   

This consultation is being conducted in line with the Cabinet Office "Consultation Principles"  which can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/consultation-principles-guidance. 

If you have any comments or complaints about the consultation process, please address them by e-mail to: consultation.coordinator@defra.gov.uk    

Why your views matter

This is a public consultation, and we welcome all views, particularly those from chemical businesses, downstream users of chemicals and NGOs. The questions are presented in a way to accommodate both a general audience and stakeholders with specialist knowledge on the regulation of chemicals.     

What happens next

A summary of the responses to this consultation and the Government response will be published and placed on Government websites at www.gov.uk/defra.  The summary will include a list of respondents and organisations that responded but not personal names, addresses or other contact details.

However, information provided in response to this consultation document, including personal information, will be shared with the Scottish and Welsh Governments, the HSE and EA (for the purposes of analysing responses and policy development) and may be subject to publication or release to other parties or to disclosure in accordance with the access to information regimes for example, the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA) and the Data Protection Act 2018.

If you want information, including personal data that you provide to be treated as confidential, please say so clearly in writing when you submit your response to the consultation and explain why you need these details to be kept confidential.