Chemical law must be stopped, for now - chamber
Birmingham Chamber of Commerce Group wants the 12-month postponement of a piece of European Union legislation which it claims would cause "severe business disruption". It requires users of certain chemicals to register them with the EU and could cost them £8.6bn over 11 years, it is claimed.
REACH (Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals) legislation will have an impact on almost all UK business sectors, the chamber said. Each registration can cost €180,000 (£153,581).
Of 4,700 chemicals that have to be registered by 30 November, only 2,200 have been reported so far.
Ross Gurdin, policy adviser at Birmingham Chamber Group, said: "Many businesses, including paint, cleaning services, ink, clothing, plastic goods, dry cleaning, food preparation, aerospace industry and those further down the supply chain will all be hurt by this piece of legislation."
Birmingham chamber member and managing director of EC Williams, Henrik Skouby, said: "It is a very worrying scenario as we are very much in the dark as to what the future holds.
"Our industry of surface coatings hopes that the EU will take a more pragmatic view and will allow a 12-month period of grace. If this does not happen there is a real danger that much high value engineering will move outside the EU to countries which can deliver the coatings that our aerospace and automotive industries rely on."
