Boron Consortium Services Limited is a private company limited by guarantee incorporated in England and Wales. The registered office is Grenville Court, Britwell Road, Burnham, Buckinghamshire, SL1 8DF.
The financial statements are prepared in euros, which is the functional currency of the company. Monetary amounts in these financial statements are rounded to the nearest €.
Income is recorded on an accruals basis and are analysed between initial contributions, annual contributions, letter of access fees and sundry income.
Contributions are recognised as incoming resources in full from the date that each member joins the consortium. All members are liable to pay the Initial Contribution in accordance with the tonnage-based scale in Appendix 3 of the REACH Boron Consortium Agreement as of the date on which they join. Minimum Annual Contributions, if applicable, are payable by members, including those which joined during the year and in previous years in accordance with the tonnage-based scale in Appendix 3 of the REACH Boron Consortium Agreement.
Resources expended are incurred in accordance with section 9 of The Reach Boron Consortium Agreement dated 1 January 2011 and are recognised on an accruals basis.
Basic financial assets, which include debtors and cash and bank balances, are initially measured at transaction price including transaction costs and are subsequently carried at amortised cost using the effective interest method unless the arrangement constitutes a financing transaction, where the transaction is measured at the present value of the future receipts discounted at a market rate of interest. Financial assets classified as receivable within one year are not amortised.
Financial liabilities and equity instruments are classified according to the substance of the contractual arrangements entered into. An equity instrument is any contract that evidences a residual interest in the assets of the company after deducting all of its liabilities.
Basic financial liabilities, including creditors, bank loans, loans from fellow group companies and preference shares that are classified as debt, are initially recognised at transaction price unless the arrangement constitutes a financing transaction, where the debt instrument is measured at the present value of the future payments discounted at a market rate of interest. Financial liabilities classified as payable within one year are not amortised.
Debt instruments are subsequently carried at amortised cost, using the effective interest rate method.
Trade creditors are obligations to pay for goods or services that have been acquired in the ordinary course of business from suppliers. Amounts payable are classified as current liabilities if payment is due within one year or less. If not, they are presented as non-current liabilities. Trade creditors are recognised initially at transaction price and subsequently measured at amortised cost using the effective interest method.
The company has obtained exemption from the Revenue Commissioners in respect of corporation tax, it being a company not carrying on a business for the purposes of making a profit. Corporation tax is therefore only payable on any interest income received.
In the application of the company’s accounting policies, the director is required to make judgements, estimates and assumptions about the carrying amount of assets and liabilities that are not readily apparent from other sources. The estimates and associated assumptions are based on historical experience and other factors that are considered to be relevant. Actual results may differ from these estimates.
The estimates and underlying assumptions are reviewed on an ongoing basis. Revisions to accounting estimates are recognised in the period in which the estimate is revised where the revision affects only that period, or in the period of the revision and future periods where the revision affects both current and future periods.
No significant judgements were applied in the preparation of these financial statements.
The average monthly number of persons (including directors) employed by the company during the year was Nil (2023: Nil).
The company is limited by guarantee, not having a share capital and consequently the liability of members is limited, subject to an undertaking by each member to contribute to the net assets or liabilities of the company on winding up such amounts as may be required not exceeding £1.
The auditor's report was unqualified.
In previous years the Letter of Access fee structure was changed which meant some companies who had paid fees under the old structure were due refunds whilst others may be asked to pay additional fees. In previous years the financial statements included a provision totalling €118,652 relating to refunds due back to members, these were never finalised and therefore never paid. Due to the changing landscape around chemical hazards and the increasing likelihood that the consortium will have to conduct new tests on registered substances in the future (at a significant cost) the repayments of these amounts are no longer probable. There is still some chance that the refunds may be issued in the future but this is now unlikely and therefore the provision is no longer held on the balance sheet. We are instead disclosing this as a contingent liability which would be payable only if there was a change in circumstances such that additional funds would no longer be required to meet the costs as described above.
All transactions with the director are in relation to his role as consortium manager for secretariat services provided through Metals Regulation Limited. These are conducted under the consortium's normal terms of business.