British companies. Make sure you can REACH the EU market in 2021
From the start of 2021, the UK does no longer belong to the EU, which has resulted in changes in regulations affecting a wide range of fields.
In terms of Chemical products safety, it means that The UK is now regarded as a third country in the framework of REACH Regulation. This implies that British companies cannot register chemical substances directly to the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) anymore.
However, chemical industry in the UK will presumably be still interested in placing Registered Chemical substances in the European market, in order to sell their products to European companies which prefer not to register substances themselves or cannot assume the cost of registry.
In order to deal with this new situation, companies from the UK will need to appoint an Only Representative (OR) in case they want to register a substance under EU REACH, a natural or legal person with their tax domicile established in the EU who will be able to carry out the registry in the UK company’s name. This figure acts as a mediator between the UK company and the ECHA.
Once the substance has been registered the OR must keep an inventory of the tonnage range of the substance registry and must be informed about the up-to-date classification of the substance, performing any changes in the registration dossier when necessary. The OR also has the duty of informing the company they represent of any authorization or restriction affecting the registered substance.
The Only Representative figure is not new as it has been working for a long time for third countries so they can outstand in the EU market, in fact it is depicted in article 8 of the REACH regulation 1907/2006, however the need to appoint an OR has recently arisen for British industry.
If you are a British company in this situation Tandem HSE can be your Only representative so you can keep being competitive in the European Union market.
We offer Only Representative service (OR) to all those companies from third countries who wish to commercialize substances in the EU territory.
We also offer chemical product safety consulting services in the framework of CLP, REACH, BPR among other regulations.
Do not hesitate to contact us so we can answer your questions.
Margarita
Estrany