Great Britain has set a new longstop for certain biocides data rights. The Biocidal Products (Data Protection Periods) (Amendment) Regulations 2025 (SI 2025/1221) were made on 24 November, laid on 25 November, and commence on 30 December 2025. The instrument amends Article 95 of the GB Biocidal Products Regulation so that, for active substance/product-type combinations listed in Annex II to Regulation (EU) No 1062/2014 with no approval decision yet, the relevant data protection periods now end on 31 December 2030.
The measure applies in England, Wales and Scotland and was made with the consent of the Scottish and Welsh Ministers under Article 89(4) of the GB BPR. It does not extend to Northern Ireland, where market access continues under EU BPR procedures.
Article 95(3) is updated to replace a historic reference to Regulation (EC) No 1451/2007 with the current review programme, Regulation (EU) No 1062/2014. This technical change aligns the legal text with the list that determines transitional access to active substance dossiers.
According to Health and Safety Executive guidance, data protection under the biocides regime prevents regulators from relying on proprietary studies for the benefit of another applicant unless a letter of access is provided or the protection has expired. Typical protection lengths include up to 15 years for new approvals, 10 years for existing approvals and 5 years for renewals, depending on the submission.
The new longstop interacts with those rules for combinations still awaiting a decision. For data owners who supported dossiers in the review programme, exclusivity on protected studies is maintained through to the end of 2030, rather than expiring on 31 December 2025. For prospective applicants seeking to reference those studies, the extended period means continued reliance on letters of access or generating their own data during 2026–2030.
This amendment does not itself approve any active substance or change existing product authorisations. It deals solely with protection of studies in the review programme while decisions are pending. Firms should continue to monitor the GB List of Active Substances for Great Britain and, where relevant, the EU list for Northern Ireland.
For compliance planning, regulatory and procurement teams will need to reassess budgets for data access and renegotiate agreements that would otherwise have expired at the end of 2025. Internal schedules for GB applications should be re‑baselined to reflect the extended protection window, while maintaining separate plans for EU submissions where timetables may differ.
The Department for Work and Pensions is responsible for the instrument, with Stephen Timms, Minister of State, signing on 24 November 2025. The explanatory note states that no, or no significant, impact on the private, voluntary or public sector is foreseen and that no full impact assessment was produced.
The legal text is available on legislation.gov.uk, which records the instrument as coming into force on 30 December 2025. HSE maintains the operative guidance on data protection and active substance status for operators working in Great Britain and Northern Ireland.