The UK chemicals industry is the second largest exporter to the EU after cars, selling almost £15bn of chemical products into the European single market a year. In its report, Parliament’s Environmental Audit Committee says the Government must urgently provide certainty to the UK chemicals industry over the future of chemicals regulation.
According to the Committee, UK companies will have spent an estimated £250 million in order to comply with an EU registration deadline in May 2018 (REACH), yet have received no guarantees over whether these registrations will remain valid after the UK leaves the EU. The Committee adds that this uncertainty means that one in five UK chemicals companies represented by the Chemical Business Association are already investigating registering elsewhere in the EU, in a move that could cost jobs and investment.
Lack of clarity
Chair of the Environmental Audit Committee, Mary Creagh MP, said: “It is disappointing the Government have not provided the certainty that UK businesses urgently need on their plans for the future chemical regulation in the UK. The timing of Brexit means that companies face significant costs to comply with EU regulations before we leave, with no guarantee that that investment will be useful to them in the future.
“The lack of Government clarity is causing uncertainty and driving billions of pounds worth of businesses to consider leaving our country for the EU. The Government needs to provide certainty to ensure that it encourages continued chemical business investment in the UK. This lack of clarity extends to plans for a future chemicals framework for the UK: the Government has admitted that it will be difficult to transpose regulations such as REACH into UK law, yet it has not yet offered a vision for the replacement.”
The Committee wants to see the Government take a pragmatic approach towards deciding the future of the UK’s relationship with the EU’s single market for chemicals. And also amongst its recommendations, suggests that the experiences of the US as it introduces an improved system of chemicals regulation could be useful for the Government when planning the UK’s approach.
