EU shelves full REACH revision
- European Commissioner Jessika Roswall told lawmakers on April 27 the Commission will not table a full rewrite of REACH, the European Union’s chemicals law. - The dropped proposal had slipped for years after the 2020 chemicals strategy, and a first draft was rejected by the Regulatory Scrutiny Board. - Brussels is shifting toward narrower chemical measures instead of one overhaul. (natlawreview.com)
The European Commission has abandoned plans to propose a full revision of REACH, the European Union’s main chemicals law. (natlawreview.com) Environment Commissioner Jessika Roswall made that clear in a debate with members of the European Parliament on April 27, saying the Commission would not issue the long-awaited REACH revision proposal. (natlawreview.com) (europarl.europa.eu) REACH stands for Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals. It has governed how chemicals are registered and controlled in the European Union since 2007. (single-market-economy.ec.europa.eu) (environment.ec.europa.eu) The shelved rewrite had been part of the Commission’s Chemicals Strategy for Sustainability, published on October 14, 2020 under the European Green Deal. That strategy set out more than 80 actions to cut chemical pollution and push safer substitutes. (environment.ec.europa.eu 1) (environment.ec.europa.eu 2) The proposal was delayed repeatedly. The European Parliament’s legislative tracker still showed a REACH revision as an announced item in the Commission work program, with planning that had shifted into late 2025. (europarl.europa.eu) A first version of the proposal was issued in September 2025 and then rejected on September 26 by the Regulatory Scrutiny Board, according to lawyers tracking the file. (natlawreview.com) (sustainabilityinbusiness.blog) Roswall’s explanation was political as well as procedural. She said the Commission did not see it as appropriate to reopen REACH at a time when companies were asking for legal certainty and predictability. (sustainabilityinbusiness.blog) That does not mean Brussels is walking away from chemicals policy. The Commission has already pushed through separate measures, including the “one substance, one assessment” framework that entered into force on January 5, 2026. (environment.ec.europa.eu) The Commission also still describes REACH as the backbone of European chemicals control, with the European Chemicals Agency running the registration database and coordinating evaluations. (environment.ec.europa.eu) (single-market-economy.ec.europa.eu) For companies that had been bracing for a once-in-a-generation rewrite, the immediate result is less upheaval from a single omnibus law. The next phase looks more like a patchwork of narrower restrictions, assessments and sector-specific measures than one big REACH reset. (natlawreview.com) (cen.acs.org)
