In or out?
Of the 5000 REACH registrations, more than 40 per cent of these registrations were made by Only Representatives (ORs) for the non-EU manufacturers. An OR is an appointed person based within the EU that carries out the required registration of substances on behalf of a non-EU based substance manufacturer who exports to EU countries.
If the UK goes for the ‘out-of-REACH’ approach, would this mean that these registrations are deactivated and replaced by importers or ORs in the EU?
What’s clear is that from an environmental perspective, at a time when the textile industry was beginning to get on top of transparency and environmental regulation in the chemical sector, Brexit has cast an opaque shadow over progress due largely to the current uncertainty.
While there may be many questions about the future of the EU–UK relationship, commerce will win eventually and the UK’s strong relationship with the US and other non-EU partners will remain. But from an environmental and commercial stand-point in relation to the EU, the smart money is edging towards a potential weakening of UK environmental regulation.
We think that would be bad news all round.
