Next government must consider a dedicated UK chemicals agency, Royal Society of Chemistry says

Before 2020, the UK worked with EU countries to monitor chemicals and apply regulations through the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA). After Brexit, the UK took charge of its own chemicals regulation, but its replacement system is inefficient, lacking in long-term focus and poor value for money, according to the Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC). Rather than waiting for a crisis, the society is urging the next UK government to streamline chemicals regulation by establishing a dedicated national chemicals agency. This would safeguard human health and the environment and simplify procedures for business.

Currently, responsibility for chemicals falls on several government departments and agencies leading to duplicated effort, fragmentation and confusion, according to the RSC’s new report. The result is that industry and the UK’s global standing are suffering.

‘Put simply, our regulatory regime for chemicals is just not good enough,’ says RSC president Gill Reid. ‘We need a unified approach to chemicals regulation, just as we already benefit from a national agency to oversee food standards and a national regulator of health products and medicines.’