Important information to help REACH contingency planning in the event of a ‘no-deal’ Brexit, the UK Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) has now been published on the UK Health and Safety Executive (HSE) website.
These documents (the guidance itself and a summary table) can be accessed as follows:
Amongst numerous clarifications, it now seems that if a UK-based EU REACH registrant wishes to maintain access to both the EU and UK markets after the 29th March 2019, they will be able to transfer their REACH registration to an EU based entity beforehand where permitted (e.g. for Only Representatives). It will then be possible to have the registration ‘grandfathered’ in to UK REACH as long as the EU registration was held within 2 years prior to the Brexit date. In order to have the registration grandfathered into UK REACH, minimal information will need to be provided by the 29th May 2019 (company identity, Registration number etc.) and detailed information including robust study summaries will need to be provided by the 29th March 2021.
This action can ensure that market access can be maintained in both the UK and the EU after the 29th March 2019 under the prescribed set of conditions.