On 10 March 2025, UK Government laid before Parliament the REACH Fees and Charges (Amendment of Commission Regulation (EC) No 340/2008) Regulations 2025, which will apply from 1 April 2025. This statutory instrument revises the fees and charges associated with the Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation, and Restriction of Chemicals (REACH) regime to align them more closely with the actual costs incurred by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) in administering these regulatory activities.

Key Changes

• Standard Registration Fees: A flat standard fee of £2,222 will apply to large companies for both full and intermediate registrations. This adjustment is intended to better align fees with the costs of processing registrations and maintaining the REACH IT system.

• Authorisation Fees: The base authorisation fee will increase by £10,460, bringing the standard fee from £47,229 to £57,689. Additional fees per substance and per use will continue to be calculated as a percentage of the base fee, specifically 20% and 90% respectively.

• Fees for Product and Process Oriented Research and Development (PPORD): The standard fee for a PPORD notification will increase from £475 to £751 to reflect previously unrecovered costs associated with the Environment Agency's involvement in PPORD applications.

• Updates to Registrations: A flat standard fee of £2,222 will be implemented for large companies updating their tonnage bands reflecting the actual costs of processing these updates and maintaining the REACH IT infrastructure.

• Change of Identity/Legal Personality: The fee for processing changes of identity or legal personality will be significantly reduced from £1,424 to £290, reflecting the actual costs associated with these administrative updates.

Discounts for Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises

Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) will continue to benefit from reduced fees. For all fee types except applications for authorisations, SMEs will either retain their current fee if it is lower than the new standard fee, or receive a discount of 10%, 20%, or 30% for medium, small, and micro enterprises, respectively. For authorisations, the existing SME discounts of 25%, 55%, and 90% for medium, small, and micro enterprises respectively will be maintained to avoid a disproportionate burden on smaller companies.

Consultation and Implementation

An informal consultation was held from 14 August to 16 September 2024, involving the main industry trade associations and non-governmental organisations. While industry broadly welcomed the changes, concerns were raised about the increased registration fees for large companies submitting joint registrations for substances in the 1-10 tonne range. The Government took these concerns into account but emphasised the need to align fees with the actual costs of regulatory activities, as required by HM Treasury's Managing Public Money guidelines.

The revised fees and charges are designed to ensure that the HSE recovers the full economic costs of providing regulatory services under UK-REACH, thereby maintaining the sustainability and effectiveness of the UK's chemicals regulatory framework.

Further details can be found in the official legislation here and the Explanatory Memorandum here.