European Environment Commissioner Jessika Roswall has said that "now is not the time to open REACH", confirming months of speculation that the EU executive is stepping back from its long-awaited revision of the union’s flagship chemicals legislation.
Speaking at the European Parliament’s environment committee (ENVI) on 27 April, Roswall (pictured) said that following discussions with stakeholders, the Commission had concluded that "at a point where we need certainty and predictability", revising REACH would "not be helpful".
Instead, the Commission will focus on "simplification and modernisation" measures adopted through comitology, she said, alongside a separate initiative to improve enforcement.
The announcement follows several years of delays and uncertainty around the planned overhaul. Earlier this year, reports indicated that the Commission was considering abandoning a full revision amid political pressure to prioritise competitiveness and resistance to stricter chemicals rules from right-leaning groups in the European Parliament.
While a full revision would require agreement from both the European Parliament and the Council of Ministers, more limited changes to REACH could be made by amending its annexes through the comitology process, involving EU countries in the REACH committee.
PFAS restriction
Roswall also spoke about the upcoming EU PFAS restriction proposal, saying that "we owe it to our children and future generations to address one of the biggest pollution problems in our time, and we owe it to our businesses to provide clarity, certainty and predictability on how PFAS can be used as safely as possible".
She acknowledged the swift work of ECHA’s scientific committees on the dossier, adding, "I hope we can put forward a restriction proposal on this by the end of this year."
If this is the case, the Commission’s formal restriction proposal could arrive earlier than expected. In a press release at the end of March, ECHA said its Committee for Socio-Economic Analysis (SEAC) is expected to adopt its final opinion "by the end of 2026" and that, based on this opinion and that of its Committee for Risk Assessment (RAC), the Commission would then propose a restriction for discussion and vote in the REACH committee.