ADCR announces new cost structure for Small and Medium Enterprise (SME) members
ADCR announces new cost structure for Small and Medium Enterprise (SME) members
A revision to the ADCR consortium cost structure has been agreed by its Steering Committee to provide certainty to SMEs in the Aerospace and Defence (A&D) sector supply chain.
The ADCR consortium has been set up to address the continued use of chromates in the Aerospace and Defence sector where substitution is not possible and encompasses the entire A&D supply chain. Although applications will be submitted by upstream stakeholders, dossier preparation costs and application fees will be use-specific and will be shared by paying ADCR members who are end-users and are have an interest in that use.
ADCR’s cost sharing arrangements intentionally mean that large companies bear a larger part of the costs than SMEs, as it is recognised that SMEs may not have the financial and/or resource capacity of larger companies.
The participation of as many SMEs as possible in ADCR is extremely important. SMEs are vital links in the supply chain and will hold essential information on worker exposure and environmental releases of Cr(VI). SMEs can significantly benefit from their membership of ADCR as they will have the support of their customers in meeting their legal obligations in relation to REACH Authorisation.
SMEs have expressed that they would much appreciate certainty from the outset as to the costs of applying for (re-)authorisation of the A&D uses of chromates. In response to this feedback, ADCR can announce that its Steering Committee has decided to review the terms of membership for SMEs and introduce a new cost structure. Its key parameters include:
• For SMEs, there will be a modest fixed cost per use applied for. As a result, each SME will be able to estimate its overall authorisation cost by simply knowing how many A&D Cr(VI) uses they wish to support;
• For SMEs, no late-joining membership fees will apply.
The ADCR Consortium Agreement now reflects the new SME cost structure and all companies that had previously expressed an interest in joining the ADCR and have signed the relevant Memorandum of Understanding have been advised of the new cost structure.
Any SME with an interest in joining the ADCR who wishes to get more details about on the new cost structure should contact ADCR-info@rpaltd.co.uk.
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On 19 January 2026 Defra granted Decisions for the three initial applications (AFA059, AFA061 and AFA063) which we published as news on 3 February. The granted review period for these three applications is 12 years. The Decisions are available on Authorisation decisions: UK REACH - GOV.UK . The Defra Decision come with a series of conditions that users of chromates should be fulfilling and these measures will apply from the 19 August 2026. To support the sharing of these GB obligations the ADCR Service Team prepared Formal Communication Letters that were shared with the Authorisation Holders for disseminating to their downstream users. These ADCR formal Communication letters have now been added to ADCR Guidance and Support , the letters set out the Authorisation conditions and monitoring arrangements as well for existing stock and REACH Article 66 obligations. For the four review report applications AFA058, AFA060, AFA062 and AFA064, Defra is expecting to make their decisions later in March 2026. As these applications are all review reports the use can continue until Defra makes its decision. The ADCR Service Team will update guidance documents on the ADCR website to cover the obligations of the Defra ADCR Authorisation decisions. The guidance is intended for Downstream Users of soluble chromates in GB. ADCR will also hold a webinar later in spring 2026 (April/May) to present the UK decisions and conditions.