Delegates at this meeting heard presentations and updates from a number of
government departments. There was an overview on the work of the Product Safety
and Standards Unit of the UK Department for Business, Energy and Industrial
Strategy ‘BEIS’, which is particularly important in the light of the fierce political debates
on a common rulebook between the UK and EU, a, or the, Customs Union and on trade.

There was a workshop on Environmental Principles, on which Defra has an open
consultation, i.e. which environmental principles must, or should, remain on the Uk
statute book after Brexit, and how this affects chemicals.

Defra gave an update on its increasingly important work on chemicals through the
OECD, and there were other updates including on Defra’s international work, and finally
a heroic attempt to summarise recent developments on EU exit and chemicals, despite
the fact that politics is rapidly outpacing formal regulatory developments.

Delegates were also informed of a notice published on the HSE website with information
on developments in the EU withdrawal negotiations for businesses affected by
chemicals regulations –

https://webcommunities.hse.gov.uk/connect.ti/eu.exit/view?objectId=56115&exp=e1

They were also provided with a link to a webcast recording of the European
Commission’s REACH review conference which took place on the 11 June -

https://webcast.ec.europa.eu/conference-reach-review-2017

For further information please contact William Wilson, Barrister, Director,
Wyeside Consulting Ltd at info@wyesideconsulting.com, tel +44(0)1225-730-407