NIA was part of a 60 min call with the UK departments DEFRA (Dept Environment Framing and Rural Affairs) and the HSE (Health and Safety Executive). These two departments are core to UK implementation of UK REACH. The notes below reflect high level comments from the call and NIA intentions to support Members in the future.
The UK is preparing for transition end, building on the no-deal planning that was undertaken for autumn 2019. The UK REACH IT system is under development and there are plans for a next testing round in October 2020 (to include future users). It plans to minimise change in transposing EU REACH into UK law and ensuring that the agencies involved will have all the resources in place for January 2021.
Guidance for UK REACH has been initially published and this will be reviewed and updated at the year progresses, including consultation with an immediate circle of stakeholders. The aim is to publish this in September.
Data sharing is still under discussion and linked to ongoing negotiations.
Changes in the EU from 2021 will all be considered for their integration into UK frameworks, including e.g. the nanomaterials definition that has been under development for a number of years and which is hopefully close to consultation, now that a new Commission is established.
Industrial feedback will continue to be sought in order help ensure a fully operational environment for materials within the UK and from September onwards, there will be increasing stakeholder outreach.
The regulatory position in Northern Ireland is still being developed, with an expectation for both EU and UK compliance for ease of trade.
NIA has offered to support all industrial consultations and feedback and will also extend UK agency connections to sectors such as food, in order to track the transition of nanomaterials legislation into UK law and practise.
