HSE clarifies when a company should ‘claim the lead’ under UK REACH

In August 2021 the UK’s Health and Safety Executive (HSE) permitted members of a Substance Group (equivalent to a Joint Submission under EU REACH) to be able to claim the lead registrant position within the ‘Comply with UK REACH’ service.

This is important because UK REACH retains the EU 'one substance, one registration' principle. If there is more than one registrant of a substance, co-registrants should agree between themselves on who the 'lead registrant' will be.

Current guidance from the HSE on when and how a company should claim the lead registrant role is limited, stating only this should be done within the ‘Comply with UK REACH’ service once the (lead) dossier is ready to be submitted.

TSG now has further important information on claiming the lead registrant role from the HSE:

• The lead registrant role only needs to be claimed before the relevant submission deadlines: 28 October 2023, 2025 or 2027, depending on tonnage and hazard.
• Before claiming the lead role all members of a substance group should discuss and agree who the lead registrant should be, as well as discussing data sharing and agreeing the contents of the joint registration dossier. This should be done outside of the ‘Comply with UK REACH’ service.
• For a company to become the lead registrant they need the consent of all members of that substance group at the time.
• Only once a lead registration dossier, containing all the data required for the highest tonnage band covered by the joint submission, has been submitted and passed the completeness check, can a registrant claim the lead role in the ‘Comply with UK REACH’ service. Therefore, the lead registration dossier must be submitted before the lead registrant role is claimed.
• If a lead registrant does not have access to all the data required for registration now, they should not yet claim the lead registrant role. The lead registration dossier cannot contain any waiving statements relating to data access.
• If a member takes the lead role without the consensus of other members of the substance group, evidence can be submitted to the HSE showing this. The lead registrant role could then be taken off a member by the HSE.

How TSG can help

TSG offers a full UK REACH service designed to help companies comply with the regulation: we can act as an Only Representative (OR) under UK REACH, as well as create and submit registrations, authorisations, PPORD’s and other notifications. Please get in contact at [email protected] for support in achieving regulatory compliance.