Finishing - September-October 2020

6 NEWS www.finishingmagazine.co.uk
The BCF looks at how the UK will cope once we fully leave the EU at
the end of the year
Technical data service
Bitrez has launched a new service to provide customers with technical
data on a broad portfolio of specialist resins used in the formulation of
advanced coatings, adhesives and composites via the free, members
only, section of their website, My Bitrez.
Providing a hub of knowledge, My Bitrez offers the user everything
they need to know about the latest developments such as REACH
compliant alternatives; from green bio-epoxy curing agents which
mitigate the use of Mannich based formulas used in marine and
construction to BPA free phenolic resins used to coat food packaging.
My Bitrez offers some of the most in depth product presentations and
data sheets available free online, providing descriptions, applications,
key properties and specifications.
Dominic Hopwood, Bitrez’s resin sales manager, says: “After decades
of intensive R&D, working with academia, research institutes and some
of the largest companies in the world, we have been able to create this
library of information of specialist resins. This has allowed us to share
our research in an easy to use format, with concise data sheets and
technical information all in one place.”
New sales manager
BOFA International has
appointed Douglas Gray as
international sales manager to
support the company’s growing
success in overseas markets.
Douglas has more than 20
years’ experience in industrial
sales, the last 15 of which have
been with companies in Asia,
Europe and the Americas.
In his new role, he will focus
on developing sales to OEMs in
all BOFA markets worldwide,
other than North America,
where the company operates
through its subsidiary business,
BOFA Americas, Inc. He will be
working closely with new
customers to develop long-term
relationships while also providing
support to existing clients,
particularly those with a focus on
printing applications.
Douglas commented: “The
most striking thing about BOFA
is the calibre of the team and
the reputation of their products
– and these qualities provide a
strong foundation in markets
around the world. I am very
much looking forward to
meeting new and existing
clients, whether that be remotely
in the current circumstances or
face-to-face as and when
lockdowns start to ease around
the world.”
The British Coatings Federation has increasing concerns at how plans
for post-Brexit trade with the EU will have a substantial negative
impact on its membership in future.
In a letter to the UK Prime Minister, BCF CEO Tom Bowtell cited
lack of progress on UK-EU Free Trade Agreement talks, as well as
how current plans for future regulation of chemicals in the UK –
particularly a UK version of REACH - would create substantial extra
financial and regulatory burdens for business. These conditions could
lead to global companies moving their manufacturing to sites in
Europe threatening the UK’s status as a net-exporter. The letter also
highlighted fears of job losses across the UK if workable solutions for
trade beyond the Brexit transition period were not found.
Examples of extra regulatory burdens on the coatings and printing
inks industry included UK-based companies that want to continue to
export to the EU having to set up legal entities in the EU and
operate under dual labelling regimes. On top of those issues of redtape
are the much-talked-about concerns over the setting up of a
separate UK REACH system, duplicating the requirements of the
existing EU REACH. In the letter to the PM, BCF explained how
additional costs to chemical manufacturers re-registering chemicals in
the new UK chemicals database within a two-year period are
conservatively estimated at £1 billion. Moreover, EU companies may
deem it uneconomic to register some substances in the new UK
system at all. That would mean UK manufacturers would not have
access to the same raw materials as their EU counterparts or, in order
to make sure they can continue to have access, UK downstream
manufacturers, like those in the coatings sector, would have to take
on the re-registration costs themselves.
The letter goes on to urge the Prime Minister to secure a
comprehensive FTA that maintains tariff-free trade, high standards
and consistency in chemicals regulation, and does not create
substantial extra cost and bureaucracy or animal testing. It also calls
for the current duplications inherent in the planned UK REACH
system to be rethought, to reduce the additional costs that it would
currently mean for business.
Commenting on the letter, Tom Bowtell said: “The BCF has, along
with many other organisations, worked closely with Government to try
and ensure a workable transition for industry post-Brexit. However,
with the clock ticking, and FTA talks making very little progress, we
feel that there remain significant – indeed growing – risks that what is
currently planned will significantly and detrimentally impact on our
members’ future business. Put simply, if a key point of Brexit was to
reduce bureaucracy for business, this will not end up being the case
in the coatings or wider chemicals sector as things stand.
“We still believe the best way to prevent the issues outlined in our
letter from damaging UK business would be for the UK to remain as
an associate member of the European Chemicals Agency. However, if
the UK Government has definitively ruled that option out, we
support attempts to negotiate access to the EU chemicals database
for the UK regulator through an FTA chemicals annexe. However,
even then, there would be extra obstacles and costs to trade between
the UK and EU our members will have to deal with. We therefore
also need the UK Government to minimise those added hurdles of
new UK regulations in future, especially where they introduce
duplicate requirements for our industry, as will be the case with UK
REACH.”
Finishing – September/October 2020