Less than one month until the UK REACH DUIN deadline

With the upcoming deadline for Downstream User Import Notification (DUINs) at the end of this month, a summary of the important information for downstream users in the process of completing their DUINS is provided.

Under UK REACH, any GB-based legal entity intending to import a substance into GB at or above 1 tonne per year is required to submit a registration to HSE for that substance.  A DUIN (downstream user import notification) provides a transitional provision which was put in place to aim to help minimise disruption to your business.  GB-based companies that were downstream users or distributors under EU REACH are able to notify HSE regarding the substances that they wish to continue importing into GB from the EU.  The notification under Article 127E of UK REACH, or DUIN, must be made by 27^th October 2021 and effectively defers the registration obligation until up to 6 years plus 300 days from the end of the transition period. Under the DUIN, you are not obliged to register unless you wish to continue to import the notified substance after the registration deadline.

DUIN submissions are currently open for companies meeting the following criteria:

• A GB based company whose supplier held an EU REACH registration prior to the end of the transition period and who was a downstream user of that substance in the two years prior to the end of the transition period.
• An Only Representative, based in GB who has been appointed by a non-GN manufacturer or Formulator that currently holds an EU registration and imported the substance to the UK in the two years prior to the end of the transition period.

What do you need to do to submit a DUIN?

For the majority of these companies processing of the DUIN should be straight forward and includes the following steps:

1. Use the Comply with UK REACH service to indicate that you are an existing downstream user or distributor.
2. Populate the DUIN with the information about the substances that you wish to continue importing.
3. Send the completed spreadsheet to the HSE including your legal entity name and DUIN number.

The HSE is urging all eligible companies to submit a DUIN for as many substances as possible before the DUIN deadline, as this is their only opportunity to suspend the full registration obligations.  For DUINS, where information about a substance is not available to you, that information need not be provided. This is of particular relevance to importers of mixtures, where your supplier may not wish to divulge the composition of their products.  The HSE has stated that information for the DUIN should be provided “to the extent that it is available”.

The information should be submitted in the spreadsheet with all the substances that you wish to continue importing from the EU, one substance per line on the spreadsheet.  When listing a substance, HSE asks that you include at least one of the following: substance name, CAS number or EC number and any other information requested if it is available to you.

However, the HSE has also provided further advice on specific situations as outlined below:

• Polymers - Companies that import Polymers may not have access to the monomer information for that polymer. The HSE have advised that for common polymers to use the “best guess approach”, that is to say, provide the most likely monomer information based on the likely composition of that polymer.
• Unknown substances – Companies importing products/formulations may not be aware of the non-hazardous components of the formulation. HSE stress that you can’t tell them what you don’t know and should thus focus on what you do know.