EU likely to shelve chemical reform amid industry pressure 

Lucy Carrier-Pilkington | 6th May 2026 | Brussels, International, Lobbying
(Photo by Thomas Lohnes/Getty Images)
(Photo by Thomas Lohnes/Getty Images)

The reform concerns a pre-existing law on the Regulation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals (REACH) and has been in place since June 2007.  

REACH has long been in urgent need of revision, given that the current EU framework is too inefficient and inadequate to manage the high volume of hazardous substances in everyday products - and since its introduction in 20007, the public health and environmental landscape has simply changed. Now, the European Commission has shelved its plans to reform REACH, abandoning a six-year project to review its laws – which was intended to bring REACH more in line with the EU’s green goals.  EU Environment Commissioner, Jessika Roswell, confirmed last week: "We have concluded that we will not open REACH at this time". Senior law and policy advisor at NGO ClientEarth, Julian Schenten, said: “Given the significant uncertainties it could spell for the chemicals industry – it appears a full REACH revision is off the table for the Commission, and it’s clear to us that ploughing ahead with a full revision creates a significant risk of REACH being dismantled, given how political the file ha...

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