Tom Bowtell Provides Information on UK REACH to House of Lords Committee
COVENTRY, UK — In October, Tom Bowtell, CEO of the British Coatings Federation (BCF), gave evidence to the House of Lords EU Environment Sub-Committee concerning plans for UK REACH. In his comments to the committee, he explained how UK REACH, as currently configured, will significantly and negatively impact the coatings and printing inks sector, as well as the chemicals industry more widely.
His evidence stressed that if the UK Government fails to negotiate data sharing as part of a chemicals annex to the EU Free Trade Agreement, the resulting need to register chemical substances into a separate UK REACH database will cost industry over £1 billion. This would put UK Coatings manufacturing - and sectors further downstream like automotive and aerospace that its members supply - at a significant competitive disadvantage to their EU competitors.