The UK Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (DEFRA) is considering postponing the transitional registration deadlines for chemical substances under UK REACH. A public consultation, launched on 14 July 2025 and open until 8 September 2025, is currently gathering stakeholder feedback on the proposed changes.

As is well known, UK REACH (the United Kingdom’s chemical registration system) requires the registration of chemical substances placed on the GB market. However, following the UK’s departure from the European Union, the chemical data sets collected under EU REACH were not transferred to the UK’s Health and Safety Executive (HSE). As a result, many chemical substances on the GB market still require registration under UK REACH.

The government continues to work on a new model called the Alternative Transitional Registration model (ATRm). Preliminary drafts of the ATRm were shared with the public during a previous consultation in 2024. However, since the details of the model have not yet been finalized, it remains unclear what data must be submitted and when. According to DEFRA, the government does not anticipate that the data requirements will exceed those proposed in 2024.

Given that the legislation needed to implement the ATRm will not be in force in time, it will not be feasible to meet the current registration deadlines of October 2026, October 2028, and October 2030. Therefore, three alternative sets of new deadlines have been proposed for public consultation:

  • Option 1: October 2029, October 2030, October 2031 (Preferred by the government)
  • Option 2: April 2029, April 2031, April 2033
  • Option 3: April 2029, April 2030, April 2031

Option 1 is the government’s preferred choice as it provides an estimated two-year transition period for finalizing the ATRm and allowing industry time to adapt. Additionally, shortening the gap between registration deadlines from two years to one would still offer adequate time for data collection and submission, while enabling regulators to access information more rapidly and efficiently.

The consultation also includes a proposal to extend the deadlines for compliance checks that HSE is required to conduct on 20% of incoming registration dossiers, as stipulated in Article 41(5) of UK REACH.

Click here to access DEFRA’s official statement and related documents.

For any questions regarding UK REACH, please fill out the form.