RedDwarf
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Registered: 16-2-2019
Location: UK (North West)
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Amateur chemists in the UK - legal requirements
I've been interested in chemistry (and science and engineering) since I was a kid nearly 50 years ago, and over the years have built up some equipment
bit by bit and the similarly have acquired chemicals (some date back to my chemistry set in the 70s, others have been bought for non chemistry uses eg
metal cleaning and treatment - I realise this is chemistry but the chemistry wasn't the principal focus!) I've now got more time to pursue my hobbies,
so acquisitions have increased.
In all this time I have been lax about keeping up with UK legislation. I'm of course aware that times have changed and that many products which once
were household items are now not available or blacklisted and I understand why. Back before I joined the forum or started posting I read a thread
about requirements in the UK and a document "Domestic precursor license and registration requirements" was attached - this reassured me as it seemed
to be saying that at the level of stock I had (1-2 liters) there were no requirements.
Today I opened a thread "where is blogfast25" at the latest post and started reading backwards. This started to get me worried that I might have
misunderstood the requirements (I don't have all the chemicals mentioned before anyone starts wondering!) and I started googling and came across the
gov.uk pages :
Guidance
Supplying explosives precursors and poisons and from this I found :
Guidance:
Licensing for home users of poisons and explosive precursors
The latter gives a list of explosive precursors and poisons that require a licence but doesn't give any quantities.
So for example I have oxalic acid (I use it for bleaching wood - woodworking being another of my hobbies) and sulfuric acid. Does this mean that I'm
in contravention of UK law (and if so what is the best way to rectify this?) or am I being overly paranoid?
Apologies if this is answered elsewhere, I have tried to search the forums (honest!).
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DavidJR
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Quote: Originally posted by RedDwarf  |
The latter gives a list of explosive precursors and poisons that require a licence but doesn't give any quantities.
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There are no quantity exceptions.
| Quote: Originally posted by RedDwarf |
So for example I have oxalic acid (I use it for bleaching wood - woodworking being another of my hobbies) and sulfuric acid. Does this mean that I'm
in contravention of UK law (and if so what is the best way to rectify this?) or am I being overly paranoid?
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Yep, technically it does. However, many here essentially just ignore the existence of the (ridiculous) regulations and carry on regardless. Personally
I think that - providing you are not up to anything 'dodgy' and aren't distributing regulated materials - it's exceedingly unlikely to ever be a
problem for you.
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RedDwarf
Hazard to Others
Posts: 161
Registered: 16-2-2019
Location: UK (North West)
Member Is Offline
Mood: Variable
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Thanks David. No, nothing I do is either commercial or dodgy (although I still enjoy reading up about dodgy stuff!) and I have no intention of
supplying others.
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