The Alliance of Chemical Associations (ACA) has warned that the Government's response to the UK REACH Alternative Transitional Registration model (ATRm) consultation leaves British industry facing significant regulatory and financial burdens, despite years of delays and calls for reform.
UK REACH (the Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals framework) operates independently from its EU counterpart, requiring separate registrations to access both the GB and EU markets.
While the Government has now confirmed it will align with EU REACH decisions on chemical bans, authorisations and restrictions, the ACA argues this falls far short of addressing the costliest barrier facing the sector.
The industry body estimates that continued duplication of registration requirements could cost businesses more than £500m in data-gathering and administration. It added that the bill will ultimately be passed down supply chains to UK manufacturers and businesses.
Despite publicly available hazard and use data already existing on the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) website and in safety data sheets, the Government's response maintains the "no data, no market" position, requiring companies to submit hazard and exposure information and, in some cases, full chemical safety assessments, via substance groups.
The ACA's criticism is particularly sharp regarding novel chemicals. Substances registered in the EU since the end of the EU Exit Transition Period (and therefore considered new to the GB market) will continue to face fully duplicative UK and EU REACH registration requirements, including animal testing for hazard data generation.
For innovative and speciality chemical companies, this risks delaying UK market entry and undermining Britain's appeal as a destination for research, investment and scale-up.
Compounding these concerns, the revised ATRm registration deadlines compress implementation timelines to just 12-month windows in 2029, 2030 and 2031 — half the time originally anticipated — while the Government has yet to provide clarity on whether publicly available data can be used for UK submissions without the original data owners' consent.
The ACA's preferred solution, it says, is full recognition of EU REACH registrations, supplemented by a UK notification process to maintain market visibility.
The body stresses this would not require EU agreement and could be implemented unilaterally, consistent with the Government's stated objective of EU alignment in chemicals regulation.
"This Government announcement is just another example of a missed opportunity," the ACA said, adding that rising costs were already placing businesses under severe pressure.
The cost of doing business in the UK continues to rise due to energy, employment and raw material costs and this long-delayed consultation response does nothing to alleviate that burden.