REACHing for resilience: the recalibration of EU chemicals law

From hazard control to strategic balancing

EU REACH—the EU’s main chemicals regulation—sits at the center of this recalibration. Amendments 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 changing.

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 dependencies 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 change 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 use” concept could underpin regulation of the most harmful substances. Under the Communication, use of such substances would only be permitted if it was essential, namely if (i) that use 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 used to support the EU’s energy security and green transition goals.

This newfound focus on balancing risks against socio-economic goals is not intended to dilute hazard standards. Rather, careful scoping of derogations to well-characterized uses 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 uses.

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.

What to expect in the short, medium, and long term

In the short term (6–12 months), stakeholders can expect the legislative change long trailed in this area to finally arrive: while a targeted revision of EU REACH was foreseen for Q4 of 2025, this has been postponed and is now expected in the course of 2026, including a full assessment on the ban of PFAS. Other steps are also being taken in support of the EU’s security of supply goals, such as the Commission’s September 2025 launch of its second call for strategic projects to secure critical raw materials supply for European industry in the context of the EU’s Critical Raw Materials Act.

In the medium term (12–18 months), enforcement will be driven up—as recently announced by the ECHA’s Enforcement Forum in its work program for 2026–2027. Although enforcement remains national, ECHA will continue to coordinate cross-border actions and businesses should anticipate more joint inspections between Member State authorities (e.g., at borders) or in collaboration with enforcement authorities in other sectors.

Over the long term (18 months–5 years), EU policy initiatives should align the European Commission’s Transition pathway for the chemicals industry—a strategy document published in 2023 setting out steps for the chemicals sector’s green and digital transitions—with the European Chemicals Industry Action Plan, a 2025 plan aimed at securing the resilience and competitiveness of the sector. The result is expected to be a coherent framework across resilience, decarbonization, and regulatory initiatives. The Critical Chemical Alliance, launched under the 2025 Action Plan, could play an important role in the long-term development of regulation in this sector, defining transparent and robust criteria for identifying critical chemical production capacities and critical molecules underpinning strategic value chains in the EU.