A risk tracker compiled by a coalition of green non-governmental organisations (NGOs) has suggested that the UK’s chemicals industry is at a high risk following Brexit.
Chemical Watch reported on the findings of the Greener UK Brexit risk tracker, which put the country’s chemicals sector at risk in all the policy areas it examines.
One of the big issues comes from a lack of information over whether the UK government plans to remain part of REACH, or whether it will try to set up its own system. The downside to the latter option is that the UK won’t simply be able to copy the REACH database, Greener UK revealed.
Developing a replacement system, rather than staying part of REACH, will be more expensive and “almost inevitably be less protective”, the organisation stated.
The publication also pointed out that the UK’s chemicals industry could risk attracting firms that want to use chemicals not approved by REACH, simply because the UK’s regulation is lagging behind that of its EU counterparts.
Legislation is one area that companies that carry out toll processing will be keen to get some clarification on, Chemical Week recently suggested in another article. The publication noted that because UK and EU chemical firms work so closely together, there will need to be some commonality between any new rules introduced in the UK and what exists in the EU.
According to the House of Commons Environmental Audit Committee, there are certain pieces of legislation that need to be the same across the UK and EU. It recommended that the UK government should still be involved in the chemical registration process across Europe as an absolute minimum.