The European Chemicals Agency's (ECHA) recent Enforcement Forum meeting brought key updates on regulatory enforcement priorities for 2025.
These insights are crucial for businesses handling hazardous mixtures, biocides, and other regulated products. Let’s break down the highlights so you can stay ahead of the curve.
- Revised Work Program 2024-2025: What’s Coming?
ECHA’s Enforcement Forum has updated its work program, outlining the focus areas for 2025. Here are the top priorities:
- Control of Imports and Online Sales: Stricter enforcement measures for products entering the EU and those sold online.
- Classification and Labelling of Mixtures: Special attention to mixtures such as biocides, electronic cigarettes, and air fresheners to ensure compliance with classification and labelling requirements.
What this means for you: If your business deals with hazardous mixtures or imports products, now is the time to double-check your compliance with EU regulations.
- REF-14: A Closer Look at Hazardous Mixtures
The Forum has launched preparatory work for REF-14, the next EU-wide harmonized enforcement project:
- Focus: Ensuring hazardous mixtures, especially consumer products, meet classification and labelling requirements.
- Industries affected: This will include everyday consumer products like e-cigarettes and air fresheners.
Takeaway: Get your product documentation in order now to avoid non-compliance risks during inspections.
- Pilot Project on Only Representatives
A new pilot project will monitor the compliance of only representatives registering imported substances. These representatives play a critical role in ensuring imported products adhere to EU standards.
Impact: If you rely on only representatives, ensure their processes align with ECHA’s requirements, as these will come under scrutiny.
- Results from 2024 Enforcement Projects
The Forum also reviewed outcomes from two major projects:
- Restricted Substances in Cosmetics: Findings revealed enforcement trends and common compliance issues.
- REF-11 on Safety Data Sheets (SDS): The final report, due later this year, will provide valuable insights into SDS compliance across the EU.
Action step: Stay tuned for the REF-11 report—it could highlight critical compliance gaps relevant to your business.
- Biocidal Product Regulation (BPR) Updates
The Forum’s Biocidal Product Regulation Subgroup (BPRS) has made significant progress:
- BEF-3 enforcement project: Starting January 2025, this project will inspect summaries of product characteristics and labelling for biocidal products.
- Training for BPR Inspectors: Scheduled for 2025, this ensures more robust enforcement in the future.
Heads-up: If you’re in the biocides industry, ensure your product summaries and labels are audit ready.
- Harmonization and Emerging Topics
Both the Forum and BPRS are working on harmonizing enforcement practices and addressing emerging regulatory issues. National experiences were shared to create a more uniform approach across the EU.
What Should You Do Next?
With enforcement tightening across multiple areas, here’s how you can prepare:
- Audit your compliance: Review your imports, online sales, and labelling practices to ensure alignment with EU regulations.
- Focus on hazardous mixtures: These will be under the spotlight with the launch of REF-14 in 2025.
- Stay informed: Watch for the final REF-11 report on SDS and the outcomes of the cosmetics pilot project.
Mark your calendars for the January 2025 inspections on biocidal products and updates to the enforcement program.
If all these requirements seem too much to add to your daily activities then it might be time to give us a call.
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