BEYOND REACH… THE IMPENDING IMPACT OF BREXIT ON CHEMICAL STORAGE IN THE UK

HAVING officially left the European Union, the UK is now in an interim period covered by the Withdrawal Agreement, in which EU laws continue to apply. However, when we get to the end of 2020, all EU legislation will cease to apply in the UK – including REACH, the EU regulation concerning the Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) has confirmed that the UK will implement its own version of REACH on 31 December 2020. UK REACH will be run by Defra and the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) and will completely replace EU REACH. This, of course, has huge implications for UK businesses supplying, importing, handling or storing chemicals from European Economic Area (EEA) countries Wherever you sit in the supply chain, Bill Atkinson, chief scientific adviser at environmental risk specialists Adler and Allan, outlines the steps required to ensure you don’t fall foul of compliance under the new laws. REACH IN BRIEF REACH applies to substances manufactured or imported into the EU in quantities of one tonne or more per year. It applies to individual chemical substances on their own, in...