I’ve had some people asking questions about the new UK REACH regulations that came into force as a result of Brexit.
I’m not surprised by this. Whenever there’s a big change to the regulations inevitably some people see it as a business opportunity. They often use scare tactics. Nothing drives sales like telling your prospect they will go to jail if they don’t buy. So watch out for smartly dressed guys with frightening powerpoint presentations.
But unfortunately this story isn’t a very good one, even if it isn’t quite as apocolyptic as it is made out to be. The new UK REACH legislation is a major new regulatory burden on the UK chemical industry and it is going to adversely effect some large chemical companies. This will have an impact downstream on the smaller companies that use their products.
But it will only directly affect companies that place new chemicals on the market or bring in quantities of chemicals in excess of a tonne.
If you’re just using standard ingredients, you don’t need to actually fill in any forms or do any registrations. You might need to have an uneasy feeling that things aren’t going that well. But there isn’t any specific action you need to actually put on your own personal to do list.
