Chemical compliance… what’s happening?

What’s happening with regard to chemical regulations internationally? Here are some updates we’ve prepared for you for October 2020.

Sharing of information on exports of harmful chemicals continues to grow

The sharing of information on the export of dangerous chemicals in the European Union has seen a substantial increase over the last few years.

In 2019, more than 10,000 notifications were processed, an increase of around 35% over 2016 levels. The European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) revealed the new information in its most recent report on the operation of the Prior Informed Consent (PIC) Regulation.

The report shows that new regulatory actions in the EU to restrict the use of hazardous chemicals is placing a substantial burden on those responsible for handling export notifications. In addition to the increase in export notifications, requests for support from national authorities saw a staggering 72% increase in the same timeframe.

However, ECHA has pointed out that the staffing and budget available for PIC activities has not grown proportionally with the increase in workload.

Bjorn Hansen, executive director of ECHA, explained that maintaining the proper staffing and budget was crucial to ensuring transparent international trade within the EU.

See the full report here.

UK extends deadlines for chemicals industry to submit data for UK REACH

The United Kingdom has announced that it will extend deadlines for companies to submit data for the country’s new REACH system. The move comes after the Environmental Audit Committee, the UK chemical industry and other stakeholders called for an extension.

The new system is set to go into effect on 1 January 2021, and the initial deadline for downstream users was set at 180 days after this date. The notification stage has now been extended to 300 days, which should result in less downstream users needing to register, as more of their suppliers will have time to complete the registration.

The extended timetable offers some breathing room for stakeholders and may ease the transition away from the EU REACH system that the UK is currently a part of.

For more information on this issue, please contact us here.