REUL Bill Further Update (UK)

I refer readers to my earlier blog post of this morning. The Report Stage debate is ongoing at the House of Lords – a number of aspects are being clarified –

(1) The Schedule (Revocation Schedule) is the list of those items that will be removed from the statute book at the end of this year. The Clause introducing this Schedule and removing the sunset clause and its extension is not yet voted on, but it has already been amended by vote to ensure each item on the said Revocation Schedule is referred to the Joint Committee of both Houses of Parliament for scrutiny, and if found to be a substantive deletion, is then debated on the floor of each House and if not approved for deletion, is then kept.

(2) All EU-era law will have its attribution context and it’s interpretative referencing to EU rights removed at the end of the year, regardless, so to that extent the sunset clause persists. Further amendment of this Clause 4 agreed by vote of the House of Lords will require the relevant minister to make a statement before the end of October 2023 to, as the case may be, each House of Parliament, the Scottish Parliament, Senedd Cymru or the Northern Ireland Assembly, identifying any rights, powers, liabilities, obligations, restrictions, remedies or procedures that the relevant national authority has decided not to restate, reproduce or replace before the end of 2023 and that it wishes to be revoked at the end of 2023. In this manner, Parliament & devolved legislatures rather than the Executive would have final say on revocation of rights, powers & liabilities of remaining retained law (assimilated law) at end of 2023.

(3) Any EU-era law not listed in the Revocation Schedule will be assimilated. And this assimilated EU-era law will be able to be changed, modified, including having its title changed and will certainly undergo minor amendment to remove its attribution/interpretative context up to 23rd June 2026 (listed in other clauses to the Bill). This date is not sunsetted. But the intention (as stated by Lord Callanan for the Government) is that the principle and the policy covered by the assimilated EU-era document is kept.

I may amend this Post further online. If I do, the reader must return to check the online version, as it will not be posted out to inboxes.

REUL Bill Update (UK)

This Bill (in my blog before) is now before the House of Lords, today and on Wednesday, for its Report Stage (one of the last stages before Royal Assent).

The UK Government recently confirmed it would delete the 31st December 2023 sunset clause, and its extension date in 2026, except for a list of EU-era documents. This list is now published – it would be an inserted Schedule to the Bill.

Find here, the collated amendments to the Report Stage of the REUL Bill, including the contents of the proposed new Schedule (of deletions by 31st Dec 2023). Note: the UK Government (Lord Callanan) has also proposed to enable devolved governments to remove items from his proposed Schedule.

On this Schedule (list of deletions by 31st Dec 2023) – (assuming Royal Assent of the list as is) –

(1) Removal of Annex 8 to the UK CLP document – here is a link to EU ECHA on the purpose of Annex 8. The UK CLP document is a version of the EU-era CLP (Classification, Labelling and Packaging) Regulation.

(2) Deletion of recent changes to Annex 1 of the EU-era PIC Regulation – a 2019 local instrument made changes to Annex 1 but these are not showing on the legislation dot gov dot uk website, and so we will need to produce a Cardinal Environment text consolidation for this PIC document. Annex 1 lists the chemicals covered by the EU-era PIC Regulation.

(3) Deletion of various EU-era instruments regulating establishing standardised application information when GMOs are to be deliberately released to the market or the environment. The UK now has a Precision Breeding Act regulating PBOs (Precision Bred Organisms) as distinct from GMOs (Genetically Modified Organisms). Under the new Act, the developer no longer “applies” but “notifies”. But developers still must “apply” under EU-era rules for the deliberate release of GMOs into the market/into the environment. It would appear DEFRA intends (by deleting the EU-era rules in this area) to change this to a “notification” process. The GMO register (of genetic modifications in GMOs) being lost in the REUL deletion process would be replaced by the PBO register under the Act. PBOs and GMOs would seemingly co-exist, in regulation terms.

The above would need to be achieved by issue of Statutory Instrument. Hopefully, further information will be available at that point.

We will amend the REUL List showing on client systems. and we will change the colour coding. However, we will retain the REUL List as a whole, since changes may occur to these EU-era rules over time, but not subject to a deadline.

Also note – the UK Government made two additional announcements (at the time of announcing the removal of the 31st Dec 2023 sunset deadline and it’s extension) –

(A) (EU-era) Working Time Regulations – these would be amended a bit, but the 48 hour week would be retained and also the combined leave provisions would still exceed the minimum in the EU.

(B) (EU-era) TUPE Regulations – these would be adjusted a bit. These rules are outside our remit.

UK REACH Extension (UK)

Last year (2022) the UK Government consulted on extending the registration deadlines, from the current deadlines, the first of which is as soon as October 2023.

The UK REACH Regulation contains transitional provisions that allow companies to submit initial ‘notification’ data in order to continue trading and then subsequently provide the full registration data. The transitional provisions apply to those that were registrants, downstream users or distributors under EU REACH before UK REACH came into effect. The current deadlines for completing this transitional registration process, depending on tonnage and hazard profile of the substance, are set down in Article 127P of UK REACH, and the first of these is 27 October 2023.

The UK Government published its consultation response in November 2022. It did agree to extend the deadlines. But the legislation to put this into effect is not yet issued.

We will notify subscribers to Cardinal Environment EHS Legislation Registers & Checklists, in the monthly Email Alert, as soon as this legislation has been enacted. In the meantime, questions about the deadlines should be addressed to the HSE.

The November 2022 UK Government consultation response is here.

Please note: the UK REACH legislative instrument (a Brexit amended EU-era document) is currently on the list for deletion in the REUL Project. However, we now understand that the REUL Project will remove a smaller number of EU-era documents than the current Bill wording requires, and possibly the sunset clause could itself be removed. We await the UK Governments tabled amendments to the REUL Bill, which will return to the Lords 15/17 May for its Report stage, for the detail on this.

Further Neonictinoids Ban (EU)

On 2nd Feb 2023, the EU Commission adopted new rules which, once applicable in 2026, will lower the Maximum Residues Levels (MRLs) of two pesticides in food.

Assessments by the European Food Safety Authority showed that the two chemicals, belonging to the group of neonicotinoid pesticides, clothianidin and thiamethoxam, pose a high risk to bees and contribute to the global decline of pollinators. For this reason, their outdoor use was banned in the EU in 2018.

The new rules will lower existing MRLs for these substances to the lowest level that can be measured with the latest technologies. They will apply to all products produced in the EU, and also to imported food and feed products.

The new rules will be issued as an EU Regulation, that will amend the existing 2005 Regulation. Further information is here.

Also on 19th Jan 2023, the EU court published a preliminary ruling on questions posed by the Belgian Administrative Court, following a complaint by PAN Europe, Nature & Progrès Belgium and a Belgian beekeeper. The Court declared that providing derogations for the treatment of seeds with a banned pesticide and their use is not in line with EU law. The ruling is here.

ECHA PFASs Ban Proposal (EU)

In a major development, the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) has today 7th Feb 2023 published its proposal to ban PFASs.

Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) are a large class of thousands of synthetic chemicals in common use. They are increasingly detected as environmental pollutants and some are linked to negative effects on human health.

ECHA states as they all contain carbon-fluorine bonds, which are one of the strongest chemical bonds in organic chemistry, it means that they resist degradation when used and also in the environment. Most PFASs are also easily transported in the environment covering long distances away from the source of their release.

ECHA states that PFASs have been frequently observed to contaminate groundwater, surface water and soil. In addition, cleaning up polluted sites is technically difficult and costly. And so, if releases continue, they will continue to accumulate in the environment, drinking water and food.

Information about the ECHA proposal and ECHA’s next steps are here.

EU Law Revocation (Britain) UPDATE

The Retained EU Law (Revocation and Reform) Bill (I posted about recently) is in Committee stage, and the Public Bill Committee (the relevant Committee) yesterday has asked for submissions to it – here.

You can see from the link, the purpose of the Bill is to sunset (remove from the statute book) certain types of law by end 2023. In particular, the Bill will completely overhaul a body of UK domestic law known as “retained EU law” (REUL). This is a category of law that came into being as a result of the UK exit from the EU. It includes both Retained EU instruments, and certain domestic laws that gain their authority in a particular way.

Note: when the Committee concludes its consideration of the Bill it is no longer able to receive written evidence and it can conclude earlier than the expected deadline of 5.00pm on Tuesday 22 November.

As I have written in the last Email Alert to clients, we will commence listing the laws to be affected shortly, and this list will display on Cardinal Environment Limited EHS Legislation Registers and Checklists from Jan 2023 (earlier drafts will display earlier) and be subject to tracking through 2023.

A very considerable number of laws will be affected.

We expect most affected laws to be replaced with new laws, covering the same obligations. The tracking evident on Legislation Registers and Checklists will identify progress.

We do not expect that obligations will be removed altogether. If a law is removed without a replacement, we expect the obligations to be inserted by amendment into other pre-existing law, and the tracking will identify this.

Nonetheless, this is a complex process.

Ban on Outdoor Use of Metaldehyde (UK)

Metaldehyde is used in slug pellets. It’s use is widespread.

Authorisation of Metaldehyde-containing products is regulated by EU law EC Regulation 1107/2009 (Plant Protection Products). This document is a retained law in Britain.

DEFRA announced in September 2020 it would not renew current authorisations for the outdoor use of mollusc-killer in the UK, where Metaldehyde is the active ingredient.

The details are here.

The effect of this decision is from 1st April 2022 Metaldehyde slug pellets should not be used outdoors.

Substances of Very High Concern (UK REACH) (Britain)

UPDATE (17 February 2022) : authorisation decisions for time-limited use of SVHC are here.

The government (UKG) has today published its policy on how new chemicals will be added or existing chemicals removed from the Substances of Very High Concern candidate list (SVHC) that was fossilised as at the EU list on 31st Dec 2020. The policy paper is here.

When UK REACH came into force, all substances that were on the EU REACH candidate list were carried over onto the UK REACH candidate list. UK REACH applies in Britain, not Northern Ireland which follows EU REACH.

The UK REACH work programme for 2021-22 committed to assess those substances that have been added to the EU REACH candidate list since UK REACH came into force, to consider if it was appropriate to add them to the UK REACH candidate list.

To aid this assessment, DEFRA (UKG) and the Welsh and Scottish Governments agreed interim principles for including SVHCs on the candidate list in UK REACH:

1 Including SVHCs on the candidate list should be used to encourage substitution away from particularly hazardous substances.

2 A substance should not be proposed for inclusion on the candidate list unless it is a good candidate for the authorisation list.

3 Regulatory Management Options Analysis (RMOA), informed by calls for evidence, should be used to determine if inclusion on the candidate list is the correct route.

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE), with the Environment Agency (EA), used these interim principles to assess the substances that have been added to the EU REACH candidate list since UK REACH came into force. HSE and EA identified four substance groups as priorities for further assessment via Regulatory Management Options Analysis (RMOA):

• dioctyltin dilaurate, stannane, dioctyl-, bis(coco acyloxy) derivatives, and any other stannane, dioctyl-, bis(fatty acyloxy) derivatives wherein C12 is the predominant carbon number of the fatty acyloxy moiety

• 1,4-dioxane

• small brominated alkylated alcohols (SBAA)

• phenol, alkylation products (mainly in para position) with C12-rich branched or linear alkyl chains from oligomerisation, covering any individual isomers and/or combinations thereof (PDDP)

These RMOAs will recommend the most appropriate route for managing any identified risks from these substances. This may include these substances being added to the candidate list, but HSE and EA may make other recommendations.

The Defra Secretary of State, Welsh ministers, Scottish ministers and HSE can put a substance forward for inclusion on the candidate list. They can do so if they consider it fulfils one or more of the technical, hazard-based criteria to be considered an SVHC. HSE will then prepare a dossier on, and consult on, the proposed addition to the candidate list. The final decision on whether to add a substance to the candidate list is made by HSE (with the EA advising on environmental matters).

5th List of Occupational Exposure Limits (EU)

Directive 2019/1831 (amending Directive 2000/39/EC) establishes a fifth list of indicative occupational exposure limits (IOELVs) for chemical agents.

For any chemical agent for which an IOELV has been set at European Union level, Member States are required to establish a national occupational exposure limit value. They also are required to take into account the Union limit value determining the nature of the national limit value in accordance with national legislation and practice.

Member States must bring into force the laws, regulations and administrative provisions necessary to comply with this Directive by 20th May 2021 at the latest.

The Directive establishes limit values for the following chemical agents:

Aniline

Chloromethane

Trimethylamine

2-Phenylpropane (Cumene)

sec-Butyl acetate

4-aminotoluene

Isobutyl acetateIsobutyl acetate

Isoamyl alcohol

n-Butyl acetate

Cardinal Environment EHS Legislation Registers & Checklists will be updated shortly.

EU Drinking Water Directive (EU)

The current Drinking Water Directive 98/83/EC last amended in 2015, is replaced by a new Drinking Water Directive (EU) 2020/2184 in force 12th January 2021. Member states have two years to bring in national legislation. We will add this Directive to Cardinal EHS Legislation Registers &a Checklists shortly.

The new EU Drinking Water Directive is here.

Key features of the revised Directive are:

• Reinforced water quality standards which are more stringent than WHO recommendations.

• Tackling emerging pollutants, such as endocrine disruptors and PFA’s, as well as microplastics – for which harmonised analytical methods will be developed in 2021.

• A preventive approach favouring actions to reduce pollution at source by introducing the “risk based approach”. This is based on an in-depth analysis of the whole water cycle, from source to distribution.

• Measures to ensure better access to water, particularly for vulnerable and marginalised groups.

• Measures to promote tap water, including in public spaces and restaurants, to reduce (plastic) bottle consumption.

• Harmonisation of the quality standards for materials and products in contact with water, including a reinforcement of the limit values for lead. This will be regulated at EU level with the support of the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA).

• Measures to reduce water leakages and to increase transparency of the sector.