UK chemicals sector calls for ‘urgent’ post-Brexit regulatory guidance 

London – The UK’s chemicals industry has called for a detailed and clear guidance on post-Brexit regulatory framework, as the country prepares to fully withdraw from the European Union at the end of the year. 

"The industry urgently needs to know the detail of the many new regulations and their supporting guidance with which it will be asked to comply,” said Peter Newport, chief executive of the Chemical Business Association (CBA) in a 23 Oct statement.

These include legislative and regulatory changes in REACH as well as in other chemicals and pharmaceutical regulations. 

“Bland statements of principle from government and regulators are not sufficient,” Newport said, warning that there was “a serious risk” that companies would be unable to comply with the new UK regime.

This he said, was “quite simply because they still do not yet know what is being expected of them.”

According to the CBA chief, negotiations around a free trade agreement (FTA) with the EU has distracted officials from delivering a “coherent regulatory framework” for chemicals in a “realistic timescale” for industry to comply.

“Deluging industry with official guidance just a few weeks or days before companies are expected to implement new rules and regulations is both unreasonable and completely impractical,” Newport added.

Companies, he went on to say, must be given a fair chance to change their policies and procedures – as well as training their personnel on the new compliance standards.