101 UK Brexit Notes

Connemara Programme October 16 2018 pg. 168 Classifying, labelling and packaging chemicals if there's no Brexit deal Purpose The purpose of this notice is to outline the arrangements that would come into force to regulate chemicals in the unlikely event the UK leaves the EU on 29 March 2019 with no agreement in place, with respect to the Classification, Labelling and Packaging of substances and mixtures regulation (CLP) (Regulation (EC) No 1272/2008). Before 29 March 2019 The directly-applicable CLP regulation adopts, throughout all EU countries, the UN Globally Harmonised System (GHS) for the classification and labelling of chemicals. Under CLP chemicals are classified based on their intrinsic hazards – eg, carcinogenic, toxic for reproduction, mutagenic, flammability, toxic for the aquatic environment (not exhaustive). Consideration of the risks or regulatory consequences arising from a hazard are not part of the decision-making process on classification. If a chemical is classified as meeting one of the hazard classes, it must be labelled and packaged accordingly. The process of classification at EU level is dynamic, with changes and revisions being made through Adaptations to Technical Progress (ATPs) at least once a year, to reflect the latest scientific and technical data. Hazard identification, through CLP, is required to apply a combination of legislative measures through the Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals (REACH), Biocidal Products Regulation and Plant Protection Products Regulation to deliver the necessary control measures. Technical Notices have been published for each of these regulations. Under CLP, suppliers of hazardous chemicals are required to classify (identify the intrinsic hazardous properties), label and package the chemicals they place on the market. Manufacturers and importers are also required to notify details of their classifications to the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) for inclusion in the Classification and Labelling Inventory. After March 2019 if there’s no deal The UK would establish an independent standalone chemicals regime. At the time of exit, as the UK would effectively adopt the GHS in the same way as the EU, the UK classification and labelling regime would be based on the existing EU regulatory regime in order to provide continuity for businesses, with amendments to enable functions presently carried out by the EU (including those performed by ECHA), instead being carried out in the UK by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE). This would mean companies operating in the UK dealing with HSE in place of ECHA. The majority of CLP would continue to be applied in the UK, so the main duties and obligations on suppliers to classify, label and package hazardous chemicals placed on the market would remain in place. This means the duties on UK manufacturers, importers and downstream users to classify, label and package the substances and mixtures they place on the UK market will remain. This would also be the case for the obligations on those suppliers to identify, examine and evaluate available scientific and information on substances and mixtures where it relates to the possible physical, health or environmental hazardous properties of those chemicals to ensure all the requirements of classification are fulfilled. Suppliers must also comply with mandatory classification and labelling. All the labelling requirements would remain in place too including the principles of precedence for the different labelling elements, the location of the label on packaging, and exemptions where available. The arrangements for dealing with both transport and CLP labelling are unchanged. You can find an overview of CLP labelling and packaging on the HSE website and on transport labelling in the moving dangerous goods section on GOV.UK . The packaging requirements stay the same, including those for child resistant closures and tactile warning devices. The testing arrangements, including the prohibition of testing on humans or non-human primates for the purposes of CLP, will still apply. Manufacturers and importers will also continue to comply with the duty to notify details of the self-classifications for the substances and mixtures they place on the market. Currently, these notifications are made to the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA). In future, these notifications will be made to HSE. Implications Although the existing arrangements would continue to apply, there would be changes, in particular: Companies importing chemicals into the UK from EU countries would become importers under CLP and would need to be sufficiently competent to comply with the duties and obligations on an importer, just as they would if importing chemicals into the UK from a non-EU country. Companies would interact with HSE for UK CLP functions, for example submission of notifications of classifications of chemicals. HSE would act as the CLP competent authority for the UK, on behalf of the Secretary of State and the devolved administrations. Existing harmonised classification and labelling for named substances or groups of substances would continue to have legal effect in the UK. Once we leave the EU, HSE would have the ability to put in place new arrangements for mandatory classification and labelling. These arrangements would allow new and revised classification and labelling to be proposed, considered in liaison with the devolved authorities and adopted for the UK. Companies would be required to use new UK arrangements and IT tools provided by HSE. These IT tools would be a UK mandatory classification and labelling list (of substances) and a UK notification database. The new arrangements will be operational after 29 March 2019, if there’s no deal. Responsibility for chemicals being imported into the EU from the UK would rest with whoever is the EU-based importer – the importer may therefore need details of the chemicals involved from the UK-based company. In future, the UK will be free to make its own decisions about chemical hazard classification, including whether or not to align with decisions made in the EU or other countries.