Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of divergence of UK and EU chemicals safety regimes on (a) the chemicals value chain and (b) downstream product manufacturers.

Based on our commitment to having control of our own laws, the UK implemented its own independent chemicals regulatory framework, including UK REACH, from 1 January 2021. Now that we have left the EU, we have the freedom to make our own regulatory decisions. We will take action where we believe there is a strong case that there is a risk to human health or the environment that needs to be addressed. To initiate action under UK REACH, the risks, costs, and benefits are assessed from a GB perspective.

Defra commissioned an initial evaluation of UK REACH, which was undertaken by an independent contractor. This will be published soon. It concluded it was too early to draw any conclusions on the impact of divergence on the chemical industry and on human health and the environment. These areas will be explored in further stages of the evaluation.