CHEMICAL REGULATION

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has published their plans for reforms to post-Brexit chemical regulations. Many of BPCA’s proposals have been adopted, resulting in potential administrative savings for biocide manufacturers and encouraging innovation in the pest management sector. 

SPEED READ:

• HSE reforms adopt several key BPCA recommendations
• EU biocide approvals to be recognised, reducing duplication
• Authorisation fees could fall by up to 97%, easing costs
• 173 substance expiry dates delayed; risk-based call-in proposed
• CLP notification requirements set to be removed, cutting admin burdens.

Last summer, HSE conducted a consultation on proposed changes to various chemical regulations inherited from the European Union following Brexit.

These included the Biocidal Products Regulation (GB BPR); Classification, Labelling and Packaging (GB CLP); and Prior Informed Consent (GB PIC), which governs the import and export of certain chemicals.

BPCA submitted a detailed proposal on the back of HSE’s consultation, which seems to have been well received. HSE in their report recognising the importance of biocides which ‘are essential to society to control pests and to protect public health and infrastructure’.

What changes has HSE proposed?

Proposals related to GB BPR (which regulates our products, including rodenticides, insecticides, and repellents) focused on reducing HSE workloads and business costs.

Recognising foreign jurisdictions

This included the possibility of recognising approvals in foreign jurisdictions, which BPCA supported. HSE plans to recognise only EU approvals.

HSE believes that such a move would help reduce their backlog of 330 substance and product approvals inherited from the EU and lower the fees they charge businesses.

They estimated that the authorisations for substances costs could be reduced by 97%, from an estimated £160,000 to £4,800; and for products by 96-99%, from an estimated £25,000 to between £250 and £1,000.

Those cost estimates would only cover seeking authorisations in Great Britain. The greatest benefit would be the ability to obtain authorisation in the EU and access the British market, without the need to duplicate administrative processes and pay additional fees.

BPCA hopes these proposals will help keep pest management products financially viable in Great Britain (GB) and avoid further toolkit losses.

Call-in system rather than expiration dates

Also proposed was the removal of substance and product expiration dates to be replaced with a risk-based call-in system.

BPCA cautiously supports the principle but questions how decisions on when to call in a substance or product for review will be made, what data will be required from industry, and the timeframe for making these decisions.

Combined with the recognition of approvals of foreign jurisdictions, now just the EU, BPCA argued that foreign restrictions could be one of the scenarios where a call-in within GB is triggered, with companies able to apply for approval within just GB.

HSE has agreed with our concerns and stated that further consultation would be needed on the call-in proposal, but appears to support BPCA’s position that companies should be able to apply for authorisation in GB even when they have been restricted in the EU.

To give time for such a consultation and any subsequent legislation to progress, HSE intends to postpone the expiry dates of 173 substances from January 2027 for 5 years.

Reduced Classification, Labelling and Packaging (CLP) administration

BPCA is also pleased to see that HSE has recognised and accepted our feedback on changes to GB CLP.

Currently, suppliers are required to notify HSE with up-to-date information on their products, including classification of hazardous properties and their labelling.

The proposals would remove that requirement, making it unnecessary for HSE to maintain a database of that information.

Such changes to GB CLP form part of the government’s commitment to cut administrative costs for businesses by 25% by mid-2029. The savings with this proposal come from the time saved submitting notifications to HSE. However, suppliers will still need to be able to produce information for a given product upon request.

Next steps and legislation

Many of the changes proposed by HSE will require Acts of Parliament, particularly for changes to GB BPR.

This means that while we have a general understanding of where regulation of our toolkit will go, many details remain to be decided and will be set out in further consultations and scrutiny in Parliament.

Rosina Robson, BPCA Chief Executive, reflected on the reform proposals, saying:

BPCA is pleased to see efforts from the regulator to address the issues identified in our manifesto, where post-Brexit regulations have imposed high costs on businesses, stifling investment in new products.

Rosina Robson, BPCA Chief Executive

“The actual level of savings will depend on how the required legislation progresses through Parliament and may not be reflected until the next general election.

“Ultimately, this work not only protects members’ existing toolkits but also paves the way for future product innovation in Great Britain.

“BPCA will continue to meet with HSE and lobby for better chemical regulation that leads to innovation in the pest management industry”.

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