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March 21, 2025
HSE Publishes UK REACH Report (2023 to 2024) and Work Programme (2024 to 2025)
The United Kingdom’s (UK) Health and Safety Executive (HSE) announced on March 21, 2025, that it has published the following annual report and work program on activities under the UK regulation on the Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals (UK REACH):
- UK REACH Report, which outlines the relevant activities covering the 2023 to 2024 Work Programme; and
- UK REACH Work Programme, which describes operational work for 2024 to 2025.
The UK REACH Report provides a summary of achievements, including:
| Topic | Deliverable | Target | Outcome |
| Registration | Complete the processing of all Article 26 inquiries and, within three weeks of receipt, all new UK REACH registrations | 100 percent | Met |
| Dossier evaluation | Meet legal obligations in relation to compliance checking of registration dossiers Examine testing proposals included in the registration dossiers to ensure that unnecessary animal testing is avoided | No fewer than 20 percent to meet legal obligations 100 percent | Met |
| Substance evaluation | Evaluate substances in the Rolling Action Plan (RAP) | Evaluate one | Met |
| Authorization | Complete the processing of received applications within the statutory deadline | 100 percent | Met |
| Substance of very high concern (SVHC) identification | Undertake an initial assessment of substances that have been submitted for SVHC identification under the European Union (EU) REACH during 2022/23 and consider if they are appropriate for SVHC identification under UK REACH | Assess up to five | Met |
| Regulatory management option analysis (RMOA) | Complete RMOAs initiated in 2022-2023 Initiate RMOAs for substances identified as priorities | Up to ten Up to five | One completed, nine ongoing None prioritized |
| Restriction | Complete ongoing restriction opinions Begin Annex 15 restriction dossiers Initiate scoping work for restrictions | Two One Two | One complete, one delayed Met (March 2023) Met |
HSE notes that in preparing the UK REACH Work Programme, the Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), and the Scottish and Welsh governments (the Appropriate Authorities) work closely with HSE and the Environment Agency to prioritize issues for regulatory action under UK REACH. The UK REACH Work Programme summary of objectives includes the following:
| Topic | Deliverable | Target |
| Registration/Product and Process Orientated Research and Development (PPORD) | Complete the processing of all Article 26 inquiries and, within three weeks of receipt, all new UK REACH registrations | 100 percent |
| Dossier evaluation | Meet legal obligations in relation to compliance checking of registration dossiers Examine testing proposals included in registration dossiers to ensure that unnecessary animal testing is avoided | No fewer than 20 percent of received registration dossiers, to meet legal obligations 100 percent |
| Substance evaluation | Complete the evaluation of substances in the RAP | Complete one |
| Authorization | Complete the processing of received applications within the statutory deadline | 100 percent |
| SVHC identification | Undertake an initial assessment of substances that have been submitted for SVHC identification under EU REACH during 2023/24 and consider if they are appropriate for SVHC identification under UK REACH | Assess up to six |
| RMOA | Complete RMOAs | Up to nine |
| Restriction | Complete ongoing restriction opinions (lead in ammunition) Complete Annex 15 restriction dossiers for public consultation (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in firefighting foam (FFF)) | One One |