The United Kingdom withdrew from the European Union in 2021, since when UK REACH and EU REACH have operated independently of each other. Businesses based in the Great Britain (England, Scotland and Wales) must comply with UK REACH, while businesses in Europe (including Northern Ireland) must comply with EU REACH. UK importers must notify the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) of their intention to continue importing substances.
EC Regulation 1907/2006 Concerning the Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals (REACH).
REACH Enforcement Regulations 2008 (amended to 2026 also known as UK REACH)
The regulations require all ‘substances’, which includes all metals, to be registered under REACH. It is important, however, to note that REACH Regulations distinguish between ‘substances’ and ‘preparations’ (which are covered by REACH) and ‘articles’ (which are not governed by REACH and do not require registration).
Our standard semi-finished products in aluminium, aluminium alloys, stainless steel and copper alloys such as sheet, plate, tube, bar and extrusions, are all classed as ‘articles’ and do not need to be registered. Billets, blooms, concast slabs and machined ingots are all also classed as ‘articles’ and do not need to be registered. However, certain types of ingots such as ‘as cast’ ingots, rolling ingots and ingots produced for extrusion processes, are classed as ‘preparations’ and would, therefore, need to be registered.
For the reasons stated, we can confirm that products supplied to you from our standard range are classified as ‘articles’ and, therefore, do not need to be registered under REACH.
A copy of the production diagrams for aluminium and stainless steel is available on request, to help clarify the definitions of ‘substances’, ‘preparations’ and ‘articles.’
Due diligence has been carried out on our current supplier base to establish that ‘substances’ and ‘preparations’ which require registration under REACH have been registered or confirm the absence of such chemicals. For this reason, as far as reasonably practicable, we can confirm that majority of our standard semi-finished products detailed above, don’t contain any of the chemicals listed in the current Candidate List of Substances of Very High Concern (SVHC) EU: 04th February 2026 and UK:15th June 2026 with the exception of the declaration below:
Additionally, where a grade of material is ordered by a customer where the British, European or International Standard covering the grade requires a deliberate addition of one or more of the substances in order to comply with the standard/grade requirements. In this case, the material will contain a value of each substance in line with the standard requirements:
We declare that some aluminium & copper/brass articles that we sell have the chemical substances, indicated in Attachment XIV of the Reach Regulation as amended on 08/07/2021, present in quantities above 0.1% are:
Substance: Lead
- CAS/EINICS: CAS 7439-92-1 / EINICS 231-100-4
- Date of inclusion: 27-06-2018
- Hazard: Toxic for reproduction Cat. 1A H360FD - May damage fertility. May damage the unborn child
- H362 - May cause harm to breast-fed children
The EU "Candidate list" of SVHC substances is periodically updated by ECHA and is accessible on: https://echa.europa.eu/candida... where the UK list may be found on the HSE website: : UK REACH Candidate List of substances of very high concern (SVHCs) for authorisation - HSE
It is possible that you may purchase other products or metal types from us that are outside of our normal stock range. In these circumstances, we would need to check with the producer that these specific products do not contain any of the listed Substances of Very High Concern and we will advise you accordingly.
We trust that this information clarifies our position regarding compliance with the REACH Regulations. If you have any questions or want to check on any specific product that you are unsure about, please contact us.
This Policy will be updated on amendments to the legislation and as a minimum annually.
Please note that this policy specifically excludes: All plastics and all composite panels.
