British companies holding an EU REACH Authorisation will need to get a UK REACH Authorisation, in order for it to be valid in the UK. This will be achieved through a recognition process of existing authorisations, the same way it does for registration.
To do so, companies will have to inform the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) of their situation and provide all required technical information regarding their authorisations within the 60 days following Brexit.
UK-based downstream users benefiting from an authorisation held by a European company will need to notify the HSE of their situation (in other words confirm that they are covered by an authorisation for their specific use of the substance), and provide the HSE with all data relative to the authorisation itself and to the supplier of the substance.
In the hypothesis where a British company would still be waiting for a decision from ECHA regarding an application for authorisation, depending on the stage of the process, they might need to re-submit an application for authorisation through UK REACH.
- If ECHA has already adopted its final opinion on the application, the company will need to provide all the necessary information to the DEFRA (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs) Secretary of State in the 180 days following the effective date of Brexit
- If ECHA has not yet adopted its final opinion then the company will have to re-submit the application for authorisation to the HSE.
The uncertainty of Brexit
The withdrawal agreement negotiated between the United Kingdom and the European Union has already been rejected thrice by British Parliament. These votes led to a first extension of negotiations from 29th March to 12th April 2019.
This date could be postponed again depending on future developments of the situation. Theresa May can still ask for a longer extension, which would then need to be agreed to by the European Union.
For more information on the consequences of Brexit on REACH Regulation, feel free to consult our white paper on Brexit & REACH.
