Important Regulatory Watch updates this month on policy action relevant towards Zero Pollution of Persistent, Mobile Substances:
Food and feed Omnibus proposes unlimited approvals of active substances used in plant protection products
On 16 December 2025, the European Commission presented a legislative proposal to simplify EU food and feed legislation (‘food and feed simplification package’). The legislative proposal introduces substantial amendments to the Plant Protection Products Regulation (Regulation (EC) No 1107/2009). The proposal would make approvals of active substances used in plant protection products unlimited in time, except for active substances that are candidates for substitution and those approved by derogation due to health or environmental concerns. These changes would also apply to substances already approved when the regulation enters into force.
The proposal nonetheless provides some legal safeguards: time limits for approvals could still be set where risk assessments justify them; the Commission will periodically carry out renewal procedures for selected active substances with unlimited approvals; and the Commission will have the possibility to carry out targeted reassessments for selected active substances with unlimited or limited approval periods. This comes in addition to the existing possibility for ad-hoc reviews (Article 21 of Regulation (EC) No 1107/2009) which is maintained.
According to the Commission, the reform would reduce administrative burden and allow Member States and EFSA to focus their limited available resources on the approval of new active substances or active substances for which a reassessment is needed and on the authorisation of products containing them. These amendments have however raised concerns that, despite ad-hoc review clauses, it may become harder to reassess (and revoke) approvals of active substances with negative health and environmental impacts.
The legislative proposal also contains provisions to facilitate the authorisation of biocontrol substances, extend grace periods up to three years, and simplify the mutual recognition process across Member States.
ECHA published its guidance document ahead of the consultation on the draft SEAC opinion on the PFAS restriction
To help stakeholders prepare their contribution to the consultation on the draft opinion of the Committee for Socio-Economic Analysis (SEAC) on the PFAS restriction proposal, ECHA has published a guidance document providing instructions to reply to the consultation and the survey questions (section 4 of the document).
The consultation on the SEAC draft opinion will be carried out through an online questionnaire placed on EU survey, which will be accessible through ECHA’s website. The survey will consist of a general survey on the general sections of the draft opinion and sector specific surveys for each of the sectors covered by the restriction (14 sectors + PFAS manufacturing). A respondent who would like to provide information about several sectors will have to respond to all relevant sector specific surveys. An Annex to the guidance document provides a description of all sectors indicating which uses of PFAS are covered for each sector. The consultation will not cover the eight additional sectors included in the updated Annex XV restriction report, which will not be part of the restriction. Information on these eight sectors can however be provided in the general survey. The questionnaire covers issues related to the economic and social impacts of the PFAS restriction, the availability of suitable alternatives and their technical and economic feasibility. The consultation is planned for March 2026 and will last 60 days.
Four PMT/vPvM substances added to the Community Rolling Action Plan for evaluation in 2026
The Community Rolling Action Plan (CoRAP) update for years 2026-2028 contains eight new substances compared to the current CoRAP 2025-2027. Among these eight new substances, four are suspected PMT/vPvM substances:
- methyl N-{[dimethoxy(methyl)silyl]methyl}carbamate (CAS no. 23432-65-7) – suspected PMT substance
- Disodium 2-(2,4,5,7- tetraiodo-6-oxido-3- oxoxanthen-9- yl)benzoate (CAS no. 16423- 68-0) – suspected PMT and vPvM substance
- 2-methoxy-2- methylbutane (CAS no. 994-05-8) – suspected vPvM substance
- tert-butyl methyl ether (CAS no. 1634-04-4) – suspected vPvM substance
These four substances will be evaluated in 2026, in addition to the five suspected PMT/vPvM substances already in the CoRAP and scheduled to be evaluated this year.
ECHA’s assessment of regulatory needs identifies potential PMT/vPvM substances
ECHA published an assessment of regulatory needs (ARN) on arylsulfonamides and N-haloarylsulfonamides in December 2025. The ARN identifies six potential PMT and/or vPvM substances and suggests clarifying PMT/vPvM properties through harmonised classification and labelling (CLH).
EU PFAS drinking water parameters become applicable in all Member States
The recast Drinking Water Directive, adopted in 2020, introduced drinking water parameters for the Sum of 20 individual PFAS (0.1 µg/L) and Total PFAS (0.5 µg/L). Member States must ensure that drinking water complies with these parametric values from 12 January 2026 – i.e. parameters must be monitored, and measures must be taken in case limits are exceeded.
Updates on legislative / regulatory procedures:
- The ‘One substance, one assessment package’, including the Regulation establishing a common data platform on chemicals, was published in the Official Journal on 12 December 2025 and entered into force on 1 January 2026.
- The Toy Safety Regulation was published in the Official Journal on 12 December 2025 and entered into force on 1 January 2026. It will apply from 1 August 2030.
- A provisional agreement on the revision of the EU pharmaceutical legislation was reached between the Council and the European Parliament on 11 December 2025. The full text of the agreement is not yet publicly available.
Upcoming consultation deadlines:
- Deadline to contribute to the Call for evidence and reply to the public consultation for the evaluation of the Biocidal Products Regulation: 5 March 2026.
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/