Chemical compliance

What’s happening? Here are the updates for July 2023. Check what’s new in chemical compliance regulations – we’ve got for you the most recent developments!

EU REACH Candidate List: two new substances added
EU Chemicals Legislation Finder
UK REACH: regulatory update

EU REACH Candidate List: two new substances added

Two substances have been added to the Candidate List of substances of very high concern for Authorisation. The list currently contains 235 entries for hazardous chemicals.

One of these chemicals is toxic for reproduction and the other has very persistent and very bioaccumulative hazardous properties. They are used, for example, in inks and toners and in the production of plastic products and may thus be relevant to Landbell Group’s customers:  

1. Diphenyl(2,4,6-trimethylbenzoyl)phosphine oxide (CAS No. 75980-60-8), used in inks and toners, coating products, photo-chemicals, polymers, adhesives, sealants and fillers, putties, plasters, and modelling clay.
2. Bis(4-chlorophenyl) sulphone (CAS No 80-07-9), used in the manufacture of chemicals, plastic and rubber products.

What does this mean for companies?

European producers and suppliers of articles containing the substance above a concentration of 0.1 % (weight by weight) must:

• inform their customers of its presence, provide sufficient information on safe use, and notify ECHA (REACH Regulation)
• submit a notification to ECHA’s database of substances of concern in products, SCIP (Waste Framework Directive)

The substances may be placed on the Authorisation List in the future. If so, their use will be prohibited unless a company obtains authorisation for their use from the European Commission.

EU Chemicals Legislation Finder

Did you know that the public EU Chemicals Legislation Finder (EUCLEF) gives you a handy overview of a broad range of the European Union’s legislation on chemicals.

You can search the database by substance or by the industry sector that you are in and check what laws apply, and what obligations you may have.

Of particular interest to Landbell Group’s customers is the Environmental legislation – Waste section and, in particular, the recent update of the entry for the Restriction of Hazardous Substances in Electrical and Electronic Equipment (RoHS) Directive.

This directive regulates the use of certain hazardous chemicals in electrical and electronic equipment (EEE) with a view to contributing to the protection of human health and the environment.

For more information and support on RoHS, please contact H2 Compliance’s environmental team here.

UK REACH: regulatory update

UK REACH entered into force on 1 January 2021, and it applies to companies that manufacture, import, and use chemical substances within Great Britain (GB) – that is excluding Northern Ireland (see previous COMPASS article here).

Under the terms of the Withdrawal Bill, EU law as of 1 January 2021 was retained as UK/GB law. However, amendments were made to remove/fix the parts that were inoperable in a GB-only context. Transitional provisions were also implemented to ease the change from EU REACH to UK REACH applying in GB.

The transitional provisions currently have registration deadlines of October 2023, October 2028, and October 2030. However, these are going to be extended by 3 years to October 2026, October 2028 and October 2030 – these new deadlines are expected to be legislated this summer.

This is to allow time for the government to develop an Alternative Transitional Registration (ATR) model. The idea of ATR is that the information requirements for UK REACH registration will be the same as EU REACH, but the way of fulfilling these requirements will be different – to reduce the cost to the British chemical industry.

For advice and assistance with any UK REACH duties you may have, please contact H2 Compliance’s chemical team here.