On November 11, 2025, UK government has officially unveiled its Strategic Roadmap for Replacing Animal Testing in Scientific Research, outlining plans to accelerate the phase-out of animal experiments in research and gradually terminate specific tests within six years. Supported by £75 million (approximately ¥690 million RMB), this initiative aims to promote cutting-edge technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI) and organ-on-a-chip systems as safe alternatives to animal testing.

On November 4, 2025, the UK Health and Safety Executive (HSE) proposed adding three reproductive toxic substances to the Authorization List (Annex 14) of the UK Registration, Evaluation, Authorization and Restriction of Chemicals (UK REACH) regulation and initiated a public consultation. This marks the first time the UK has proposed adding substances to the authorization list since its departure from the EU ("Brexit").

The new regulations came into effect on September 23, 2025, with a final compliance deadline of March 23, 2027.

On 14 July 2025, the UK Defra has launched a public consultation on extending the transitional registration deadlines under the UK REACH regime.

On 20 June 2025, the UK Environment Agency published the Flame Retardant Scoping Review. It evaluated 124 flame - retardant chemicals in the UK market, studying their environmental and health risks. The aim was to identify retardants used in Great Britain, looking at market size, hazards, risks, and current regulations.

On June 4, 2025, the UK government released a document on the interim approach to PFAS risk management and the PMT concept.

We are delighted to announce that following the success of last year’s event, our 2025 Global Chemical Regulation Conference is scheduled to take place on September 24, 2025. This year’s Conference will bring together over 100 industry professionals, including government representatives, key decision-makers, manufacturers, and distributors.

The UK's Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (Defra) has announced changes to several administrative fees under UK REACH, which will take effect on April 1, 2025. The UK authorities have explained that this fee adjustment is based on changes in relevant price indices and the costs incurred by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) in managing UK REACH. The new standards were published on March 10, 2025, as The REACH Fees and Charges (Amendment of Commission Regulation (EC) No 340/2008) Regulations 2025.

The Global Chemical Inventory Search (GCIS) developed by CIRS Group supports users to search the latest inventory of chemicals globally by entering CAS number or substance name in both Chinese and English. It also provides obligation analysis for global chemical compliance. CIRS continuously monitors and updates to global chemical inventories regularly, trying to help users to know more details of compliance obligations of their substances.

On May 16, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) launched a public consultation on UK REACH, which remained open until July 25. The Alternative Transitional Registration model (ATRm) for UK REACH has been devised in response to the UK government’s impact assessment, which was published in 2023 and estimated that registering substances under UK REACH would cost industry £2 billion by 2030. The consultation sets out proposals to reduce costs for businesses moving from EU to UK REACH with reductions to duplication of data. It also contains proposals to introduce further protections against unnecessary animal testing. The ATRm specifically focuses on the submission of data for transitional substances – this covers substances that were “grandfathered”, New Registration for Existing Substances (NRES), or included in a downstream user import notification (DUIN).