The House of Lords has passed a rare Regret Motion in response to the government’s plans for regulating the UK’s chemicals industry in the event of a no-deal Brexit.
Business Green reported on the decision by the Lords, which saw the motion attached to the statutory instrument the government passed that would enable it to set up its own version of the REACH regime.
Although the statutory instrument was approved, those sitting in the House of Lords insisted that their concerns over the new process be recorded in this Regret Motion.
The motion stated that cooperation with the ECA would prevent “the duplication of registrations and the consequential increased costs to United Kingdom manufacturers, downstream users and importers, [and] the duplication of testing procedures, including animal testing”.
In addition, the motion urged the government to make the UK’s continued participation with the ECA and REACH “an objective in negotiation with the European Union”.
Earlier this month, Chemicals Watch revealed that almost 3,000 UK firms have transferred their REACH registrations to EU27 entities since the start of the year.
Such transfers are essential if businesses want to continue to access the single market in the event of a no-deal Brexit.
The Echa has announced that its online portal that allows companies to make changes to their registrations ahead of Brexit will remain open after 29 March, subject to developments in the Brexit process.
Given the level of concern in the sector over what will happen in a no-deal scenario, many involved in toll processing will no doubt be hoping that parliament is able to break the deadlock and agree a way forward in the coming days and weeks.