Chemicals Regulation – CLP (Brexit UK)

The UK has today updated its Technical Notice on CLP, and this now gives further instructions, here.

If there is no deal :

(1) The UK would establish an independent standalone chemicals regime. [this is looking increasingly likely in any event, deal or no deal]

(2) At the time of exit, as the UK would effectively adopt the GHS in the same way as the EU, the UK classification and labelling regime would be based on the existing EU regulatory regime in order to provide continuity for businesses, with amendments to enable functions presently carried out by the EU (including those performed by ECHA), instead being carried out in the UK by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE).

(3) Companies operating in the UK will deal with HSE in place of ECHA.

(4) The main duties and obligations on suppliers to classify, label and package hazardous chemicals placed on the market will remain in place.

This means the duties on UK manufacturers, importers and downstream users to classify, label and package the substances and mixtures they place on the UK market will remain.

This would also be the case for the obligations on those suppliers to identify, examine and evaluate available scientific and information on substances and mixtures where it relates to the possible physical, health or environmental hazardous properties of those chemicals to ensure all the requirements of classification are fulfilled.

Suppliers must also comply with mandatory classification and labelling.

[please note, it’s still unclear if current downstream user obligations under REACH will be continue, I posted about this the other day]

(5) Companies importing chemicals into the UK from EU countries would become importers under CLP and would need to be sufficiently competent to comply with the duties and obligations on an importer, just as they would if importing chemicals into the UK from a non-EU country.

(6) HSE would have the ability to put in place new arrangements for mandatory classification and labelling. These arrangements would allow new and revised classification and labelling to be proposed, considered in liaison with the devolved authorities and adopted for the UK.

(7) Companies would be required to use new UK arrangements and IT tools provided by HSE. These IT tools would be a UK mandatory classification and labelling list (of substances) and a UK notification database. The new arrangements will be operational after 29 March 2019.

(8) Responsibility for chemicals being imported into the EU from the UK would rest with whoever is the EU-based importer (remember, a third country importing into the EU will require the use of an EU-based legal entity) – the importer may therefore need details of the chemicals involved from the UK-based company.