Important Regulatory Watch updates this month on policy action relevant towards Zero Pollution of Persistent, Mobile Substances:
Commission announces revision of Water Framework Directive by Q2 2026
The European Commission adopted on 3rd December the RESourceEU Action Plan to accelerate efforts to secure the EU’s supply of critical raw materials. The Action Plan announces that ‘by Q2 2026 the Commission will review and revise the Water Framework Directive […] paying particular attention to simplification and the need to address potential bottlenecks, in order to promote circularity and access to critical raw materials in the EU, while protecting the environment and human health’. The exact content of this revision is not further detailed in the Action Plan. According to the Action Plan, the Commission will also, by Q1 2026, issue a guidance document ‘to enable a simpler and more harmonised implementation in Member States of the EU law on environmental permitting, including aspects relating to the mining sector’. This guidance will cover the Water Framework Directive, including compliance with Environmental Quality Standards at the level of the water body.
In addition, the Action Plan indicates that the ‘Commission will […] consider the specific operational realities of the extractive, recycling and processing sectors in the announced revision of REACH and possible future revisions of the Carcinogens, Mutagens and Reprotoxic Substances (CMRD) Directive’.
One substance one assessment package adopted by Council and Parliament – what are the next steps for the common data platform on chemicals in 2026?
Following the adoption of the ‘one substance, one assessment package’ by the European Parliament on 21 October, the Council adopted it on 13 November. The act is now awaiting signature before publication in the Official Journal (likely before the end of the year) and entry into force (20 days after publication).
The package includes a Regulation establishing a common data platform on chemicals. As a first step for the creation of the platform, the Commission must set up a steering committee responsible for advising on the development of the platform governance framework. This steering committee will consist of at least one representative from each of the EU Agencies and representatives of the Commission. The Commission must also adopt within 6 months of the entry into force of the Regulation an implementation plan identifying datasets of chemicals data to be included in the common data platform, together with a timeline for their inclusion. These elements – steering committee, implementation plan, governance framework – will be adopted through implementing acts. The publication of the draft implementing acts together with the one-month consultation are currently planned for Q1 2026 regarding the setting up of the steering committee and Q2 2026 (likely June 2026) regarding the implementation plan and governance framework.
In addition, the Regulation tasks ECHA to establish an observatory for specific chemicals contributing to emerging chemical risks, which will replace the current EU Observatory for Nanomaterials. To do so, ECHA will publish a list of chemicals selected for scrutiny, which is expected around June 2026. The draft implementing act and the one-month consultation are currently planned for Q2 2026.
Finally, from the entry into force of the Regulation (expected early January 2026), research consortia funded by EU programmes must make available data they collect or generate to EU Agencies who will host the data: 1) human biomonitoring data to the EEA, 2) environmental sustainability related data on chemicals or materials (including data on emissions and by-products) to ECHA.
ECHA recommends inclusion of melamine in the Authorisation List
On 18 November, ECHA recommended the inclusion of melamine to the REACH Authorisation List, along with three other substances. The final decision whether or not to include the substance in Annex XIV to REACH will be taken by the Commission.
Uses of melamine as intermediate (e.g. in the production of resins/polymers or melamine salts), which account for 95 % of the total tonnage manufactured/imported in the EU, fall outside the scope of the authorisation regime. Nonetheless, ECHA estimated that the volume in the scope of authorisation is in the range 1,000 -> 10,000 t/y. ECHA noted ‘potential challenges’ with the workload that applications for authorisation for uses in scope could generate, and will therefore suggest the Commission and Member States, when transmitting its recommendation, to ‘consider whether additional or alternative regulatory risk management measures could be used to most effectively address the risks of melamine and provide the incentive for substitution’.
The recommendation follows the judgement from the Court of Justice upholding the identification of melamine as SVHC in July 2025. The ongoing appeal lodged by one of the companies was not considered by ECHA ‘legitimate grounds’ for delaying the recommendation. ECHA also clarified that the ongoing CLH process for classification of melamine as PMT/vPvM substance is completely independent from the recommendation for inclusion in Annex XIV and is not a reason to delay the recommendation.
Sweden and Norway to reevaluate authorisations of pesticides degrading into TFA
On 20 November, the Swedish Chemicals Agency has announced the re-evaluation of the authorisations of 38 plant protection products on the Swedish market containing six active substances degrading into TFA: diflufenican, flonicamid, fluazinam, fluopyram, mefentrifluconazole and tau-fluvalinate. One day later, the Norwegian Food Safety Authority announced it will also re-evaluate the authorisations of 13 plant protection products containing active substances degrading into TFA on the Norwegian market. Both authorities are initiating the reassessment with the aim to take a decision by 30 April 2028.
These reassessments follow the withdrawal of plant protection products containing those six active substances in Denmark this summer. Other Member States belonging to the Northern zone (Estonia, Finland, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway and Sweden) shall, according to the Plant Protection Products Regulation, ‘withdraw or amend the authorisation accordingly taking into account national conditions and risk mitigation measures’ (Art. 44(4) PPPR).
Updates on legislative / regulatory procedures:
- The legislative proposal for the revision of REACH is now expected ‘early 2026’, according to Eric Mamer, director-general for the environment at the European Commission.
- The Soil Monitoring Directive has been published in the Official Journal on 26 November and will enter into force on 16 December 2025. Member States must transpose the Directive in their national law by 17 December 2028.
- After its adoption by the Council on 13 October, the Toys Regulation was adopted in plenary by the European Parliament on 25 November. The act is awaiting signature and publication in the Official Journal.
Upcoming consultation deadlines:
- Deadline to contribute to ECHA’s Call for evidence to identify substances of concern in batteries, including substances that hamper recycling of end-of-life batteries: 10 December 2025.
More information of upcoming actions related to persistent and mobile substances
For more information of regulations under the regulatory watch, as well as a Gantt Chart of the roll out, continuously updated spreadsheet and more information, please visit https://zeropm.eu/regulatory-watch/