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Advice for GB-based OR on maintaining access to the GB and EU markets

Maintaining access to GB market 

All REACH registrations held by GB Only Representatives on the withdrawal date and those that were in place at any point since 29th March 2017 were eligible for grandfathering in the UK.

To ensure that your registration was grandfathered you should have submitted a dossier to the HSE via the UK REACH IT tool within 120 days of the UK leaving EU REACH (30 April 2021). If you have missed the deadline, please consult the HSE website for more information.

The submission had  to include data on the substance including registration numbers and substance identity, see Table 1 & 2, and any ECHA decisions regarding the registration.

 

Table 1: Data required for the 120 day submission Legal reference Article 10 (a)(i), (ii), (iii), (viii) 

Data required for the 120-day notification
Registration number(s) assigned by ECHA
Identity and contact details of manufacturer/importer
Substance identity including analytical data
  •  Spectra data to confirm the structure of the substance
  • Chromatography data to verify composition and impurities
Information on the manufacture and use
Indication on information on manufacture and use reviewed by an assessor

Table 2: Data required for the 120 day submission (intermediate registration) legal reference Article 17, Article 18 

Data required for the 120-day notification
Registration number(s) assigned by ECHA
Identity and contact details of manufacturer/importer
Identity of intermediate
  • Spectra data to confirm the structure of the substance
  • Chromatography data to verify composition and impurities
Descriptionof use
Details of risk management measures applied
Confirmation of application of strictly controlled conditions                             

CIA/Cefic joint guidance

European Union and British Union Jack flag flying in front of Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament

Brexit: Preparing for a future «UK out of REACH scenario»

2024-08-27T15:35:00+01:00

What you need to know - Practical considerations to maintain trade post Brexit

After grandfathering, a full registration dossier with the remaining information needs to be submitted to the HSE within a phased registration timeframe based on tonnage and hazard properties in order to maintain access to GB market (deadlines: 27 October 2026; 27 October 2028; 27 October 2030).

The 120 day grandfathering and submission of registration dossier do not incur any HSE fees. 
REACHReady recommends companies to review the conditions under which existing studies can be used for GB REACH purposes, see CIA/Cefic joint guidance for further details. (Note: The joint guidance, prepared to support companies for the end of the Brexit transition period, does not reflect subsequent extensions of the UK REACH registration deadlines)

A GB based OR was also able to submit the 300 day downstream user notification, which is followed by submitting the full registration dossier within a phased registration timeframe based on tonnage and hazard properties  when appointed by a non GB company to cover existing imports into GB. If a GB based OR is appointed, the existing GB importer (previously downstream user or distributor under EU REACH) no longer have the notification or registration obligations and would be regarded as a downstream user under UKREACH.  Please note it is only possible to take advantage of the notification process if the GB importer was a downstream user or distributor under EU REACH in the 2 years before the end of the transition period (1st January 2019 - 31st December 2020). Please see Table 3 for the data required for the 300 day notification. 

Table 3: Data required for 300 day notification legal reference Article 10, Article 14, Article 31, Article 32

Data required for 180-day notification

Registration number(s) assigned by ECHA

Identity and contact details of manufacture or importer

Substance identity including analytical data

  • · Spectral data to confirm the structure of the substance
  • · Chromatography data to verify composition and impurities

Classification and labelling

Details of any related authorisations

Details of any related restrictions

Any other available and relevant information to enable appropriate risk management measures to be identified and applied

Safety data sheets (>10,tpa)

Identification and application of appropriate measures to control risks identified on the chemical safety reports (>10tpa)

Maintaining access to EU market 

Article 8 of REACH states that Only Representatives shall be legally established within the EU-27/EEA which means OR based in GB are no longer valid. An Only Representative based in Northern Ireland is considered equal to an Only Representative in the EU/EEA;

The non-EU company that appointed the GB based company to be the OR should have appointed another OR one that is based in the EU-27/EEA or Northern Ireland.

The change of OR is a function that already took  place within REACH through the legal entity change functionality in REACH IT. The OR change had to take place before the end of the transition change of OR is a function that already took  place within REACH through the legal entity change functionality in REACH IT. The OR change had to take place before the end of the transition

Non-EU companies that appointed the OR can continue to supply the EU following the transfer of the registration. If the transfer didn’t take place, EU/EEA/Northern Ireland based customers may need to register the substances themselves if importing at 1 tonne or more per year or use alternative suppliers who may have registered.