2,900 UK REACH registrations revoked

The European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) has revealed that about 2,900 registrations of 268 chemicals by UK-based manufacturers, importers and only representatives under REACH have now been revoked and become void, because a transfer from a UK- to a EU-based registrant was not started by the end of the transition period on 31 December 2020.

This equates to about 3% of all registrations and about 1% of all registered substances. Of these, about 60% were registered only for intermediate use, meaning that the market impact of their registration being revoked will be limited.

About 80% of the 2,140 REACH registrant companies in the UK started or completed the transfer process by the end of the year, the agency confirmed. Where these have not yet been completed, EU successors must do so by 31 March or they will no longer be able to legally place the substance on the EU market.

In addition, registrations for 237 substances only registered in the UK are currently being transferred from the UK to the EU. The list has now been updated and is available on the ECHA website. This information will stay there after the revocation.

In the run-up to Brexit, when it was still uncertain that any sort of trade deal would be concluded in time, ECHA warned that all UK registrations that had not gone through all the steps required to complete the registration, both by the registrant and by ECHA, by 31 December, would not be processed further. As a result of the transition period ending:

* All pending UK submissions in REACH-IT have been terminated

* No registration numbers will be issued to UK companies

* Companies in the UK cannot perform any actions as duty holders in REACH-IT

* All registrations held by or returned to UK companies will be revoked gradually in REACH-IT

The above does not apply to dossiers submitted by companies in Northern Ireland. Due to the Protocol on Ireland and Northern Ireland agreed between the EU and the UK, REACH still covers these companies.