From hazard control to strategic balancing
EU REACH—the EU’s main chemicals regulation—sits at the center of this recalibration. Amconcludements to this Regulation are expected as part of the EU’s Chemicals Strategy for Sustainability.
The REACH regime has long prioritized hazard identification and risk management through registration, evaluation, authorization, and restriction. That legal architecture is not fundamentally altering.
However, two political drivers have forced a shift in emphasis for the regime:
- first, supply chain fragility, exposed by geopolitical tensions and energy shocks, has heightened Europe’s appetite to reduce depconcludeencies on non-EU inputs;
- second, the unevenness of the energy transition: the chemicals that drive decarbonization may be subject to net-zero initiatives at EU level, but the national permitting regimes which often underpin these are patchy.
The proposed revisions to REACH first presented by the European Commission in April 2025 include the setting of a limited (ten-year) validity period for chemicals under REACH, to account for the pace of alter of technological understanding in this area. These proposals form part of a spate of recent developments at the EU level on this topic, including the release of a Communication by the Commission setting out how an “essential utilize” concept could underpin regulation of the most harmful substances. Under the Communication, utilize of such substances would only be permitted if it was essential, namely if (i) that utilize was necessary for health or safety or was critical for the functioning of society, and (ii) there were no acceptable alternatives. The concept, so framed, could be utilized to support the EU’s energy security and green transition goals.
This newfound focus on balancing risks against socio-economic goals is not intconcludeed to dilute hazard standards. Rather, careful scoping of derogations to well-characterized utilizes will be required. Businesses active in these fields should therefore engage at the early stages of the introduction of new restrictions or revisions of existing restrictions, to secure exemptions for crucial utilizes.
Enforcement
Although enforcement of EU chemicals legislation mainly lies with Member States, the upcoming EU-level chemicals revision includes calls for a new strategic approach on customs enforcement relating to environment, health, and product safety. It is expected that actions will be set for all relevant players to step up enforcement of chemicals rules, not only nationally, but also cross-jurisdictionally by (i) strengthening collaboration between enforcement authorities under the auspices of the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA), (ii) increasing border controls, and (iii) building European audit capacity to ensure effective controls.
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