CIRS EU Spoke at National Manufacturing and Supply Chain Conference & Exhibition

Dean Winder, Senior Regulatory Consultation at CIRS Europe, presented An Irish Importers Guide to EU Chemical Regulations on the first day of the National Manufacturing and Supply Chain Conference & Exhibition in the RDS Simmonscort in Dublin. The two-day event took place on May 23-24, 2023.

Presentation Overview

The driving force behind the presentation was that at the beginning of 2023, the governing body of the European Chemical Regulations (ECHA) announced they would be conducting an enforcement operation specifically focusing on substances imported from non-EU-based companies. Within this operation, they will be increasing their inspections across all import requirements for the EU including EU REACH registrations, Poison Centre Notifications (PCN), and UFI codes as well as ensuring up-to-date versions of the EU CLP documents. 

Recently, the Health and Safety Authority (HSA) in Ireland made clear that it is checking compliance of Safety Data Sheets (SDSs) and labels for imported goods to Ireland as part of the EU-wide enforcement project.

During the inspections and when checking products online, the HSA will focus on the compliance of SDSs. This is to ensure that all are up-to-date with revisions to Annex II of the REACH Regulation set out in Regulation (EU) 2020/878, which came into force on January 1, 2023. [You can find out more about that here].

This, along with the recent updates across all these regulations means that Irish importers should be aware of their requirements and the applicable regulations when importing from non-EU suppliers including the UK following Brexit.

In addition, the main concerns of the attendees on the day were the continuing divergence of UK and EU CLP as well as the realization that post-Brexit many small companies are now importers of products from the UK and responsible for compliance.

Main Contents: EU REACH Requirements, Poison Centre Notifications (PCN), UFI codes, and EU CLP Updates.

Additional information: National Manufacturing and Supply Chain Conference & Exhibition information

Navigating GHS in Britain post-Brexit: Expect to see further divergence between the EU and GB