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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what economic assessment he has made of the costs and benefits to the UK of (a) aligning with and (b) diverging from EU REACH and EU Classification, Labelling and Packaging (CLP) controls on hazardous chemicals.

An assessment of the costs and benefits of leaving the EU was presented in a Regulatory Impact Assessment (RIA) for the European Union (Withdrawal) Bill. Analysis of the wider impacts of the UK’s exit from the EU was published in the government’s Long-Term Economic Analysis published in November 2018. An impact assessment was published alongside the REACH etc. (Amendment etc) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019 (SI 2019/758) and ‘de minimis’ assessments were prepared for the subsequent REACH amendment regulations and for the EU Exit Statutory Instruments that put in place a separate GB/UK chemicals regulatory regime for Classification Labelling and Packaging under the terms of retained EU law as set out in the European Union (Withdrawal) Acts.

Having our own independent regulatory framework for chemicals gives us the opportunity to be ambitious and not look solely to the EU to define a successful chemicals regulation. Instead, it enables us to take our own decisions following the best scientific advice taking account of our own specific assessment of risk and the socioeconomic case for change.