The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has announced that they will launch a six-month public consultation on restricting the use of lead in ammunition in England, Wales and Scotland on 6 May.
Alongside the launch, HSE will release their restriction dossiers upon which the consultation is based. These dossiers have been produced upon the request of UK REACH, which is currently reviewing the use of lead in ammunition, alongside other uses, under the UK's post-Brexit chemical regulations.
The Alliance understands that all use of lead ammunition for live quarry and target shooting will be included, but even if UK REACH does impose a ban, we do not anticipate that this will come into force before 2025 – when we expect most, if not all, guns and shoots will have transitioned to alternative shot voluntarily anyway.
We have made our members aware in previous articles that we expect regulations under UK REACH to be similar to those proposed by the European equivalent, EU REACH – where restrictions have already been proposed. We will continue to scrutinise these proposals and where necessary rebut them on behalf of our members.
We will publish further updates and the link for you to respond to the consultation on this page once it becomes available.
UPDATE
The dossier can be viewed HERE
The consultation can be viewed HERE
The Alliance will be scrutinising the dossier and providing a substantive response to the consultation in due course.