UK REACH - BBSA - Call for evidence

Overview

The UK REACH Rolling Action Plan (RAP) for 2023-2025 states that in 2023, the Agency for UK REACH will initiate a substance evaluation for N-butylbenzenesulphonamide (BBSA). This call for evidence aims to gather information and evidence that the Agency will use for this evaluation, and help it decide if there is a need for any follow-up action.

The RAP justification document for BBSA indicates that this substance is an additive in polyamide plastics. The Agency is keen to obtain information about the manufacture and uses for this substance in Great Britain (GB; England, Scotland and Wales) including information on the types of plastics where it may be used, and the types of articles which may be produced with these plastics. Information on waste, disposal and recyclability of plastics containing this substance is also of interest, and the Agency is keen to know if there are uses for this substance in plastics other than polyamides or other non-plastic uses.  

UK REACH came into force at the end of the EU exit transition period (31^st December 2020) and regulates the access of chemicals to the GB market. Under the Northern Ireland Protocol, EU REACH continues to regulate the access of chemicals to the Northern Ireland market.

Please support your contribution with references and reliable data (facts and figures) where possible.

HSE’s Confidentiality and GDPR statements

HSE tries to make its call for evidence procedure as thorough and open as possible.

Information provided in response to this call for evidence may be subject to publication or disclosure in accordance with the access to information regimes (these are primarily the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA), the General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR) and the Environmental Information Regulations 2004 (EIR)). Statutory Codes of Practice under the FOIA and EIR also deal with confidentiality obligations, among other things.

If you would like us to treat any of the information you provide as confidential, please make this clear in your response. If we receive a request under FOIA or EIR for the information you have provided, we will take full account of your explanation, but we cannot give an assurance that confidentiality can be maintained in all circumstances.

An automatic confidentiality disclaimer generated by your IT system will be disregarded for these purposes. Requests for confidentiality should be made explicit within the body of the response.

HSE will process all personal data in accordance with the GDPR. This means that personal data will not normally be disclosed to third parties and any such disclosures will only be made in accordance with the Regulations.

How to submit comments

Basic information can be provided in the call for evidence survey below. More detailed information should be provided in document(s) which can be submitted as attachments at the end of the survey. We will not automatically publish information submitted in response to a call for evidence. However, it will be helpful if a “public version” of your information can be provided. We ask for this because it is our intention to publish substance evaluation reports once the evaluation is completed. By providing us with a non-confidential version of any information you submit, this will help us understand which information we can include in the public substance evaluation report. If you also want to provide confidential information in your submission, please additionally complete a “confidential version” and submit both versions as attachments. We will take account of both non-confidential and confidential information when deciding whether there is a need for follow-on action and what type of action may be initiated.

When responding to this questionnaire, please answer all question sets that are relevant to you. For example, if you manufacture the substance and also import the substance, please answer questions for both manufacture and import. You do not need to duplicate information if you have provided this under a previous question set.

If you do not have time to complete this questionnaire (or do not find any questions relevant) but are willing to contribute information for the evaluation, please use the comment box under the question “Do you have any other information that you think might help HSE and/or the Environment Agency with this evaluation?” to indicate what information you are willing to share and tick that you are willing to be contacted by HSE and EA.

By submitting information as part of this call for evidence, you agree that any data provided (excluding your personal details) can be shared with the Environment Agency.

The call for evidence lasts for 60 days and closes at 23:59 London time (BST).