What changed

DRAFT EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT LEGISLATIVE RESOLUTION

P10_TA(2026)0140

on the proposal for a regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on the European Chemicals Agency and amending Regulations (EC) No 1907/2006, (EU) No 528/2012, (EU) No 649/2012 and (EU) 2019/1021

European Chemicals Agency and amending Regulations

(COM(2025)0386 – C100141/2025 – 2025/0207(COD))

Committee on the Environment, Climate and Food Safety

PE783.030

Amendments adopted by the European Parliament on 29 April 2026 on the proposal for a regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on the European Chemicals Agency and amending Regulations (EC) No 1907/2006, (EU) No 528/2012, (EU) No 649/2012 and (EU) 2019/1021 (COM(2025)0386 – C10-0141/2025 – 2025/0207(COD))

(Ordinary legislative procedure: first reading)

The European Parliament,

– having regard to the Commission proposal to Parliament and the Council (COM(2025)0386),

– having regard to Article 294(2) and Article 114(1) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, pursuant to which the Commission submitted the proposal to Parliament (C100141/2025),

– having regard to Article 294(3) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union,

– having regard to the budgetary assessment by the Committee on Budgets,

– having regard to the opinion of the European Economic and Social Committee of 23 October 2025,

– having regard to Rules 60 and 58 of its Rules of Procedure,

– having regard to the report of the Committee on the Environment, Climate and Food Safety (A10-0093/2026),

1. Adopts its position at first reading hereinafter set out;

2. Calls on the Commission to refer the matter to Parliament again if it replaces, substantially amends or intends to substantially amend its proposal;

3. Instructs its President to forward its position to the Council, the Commission and the national parliaments.

Amendment 1

Article 54 – paragraph 3

EXPLANATORY STATEMENT

The revision of the Basic Regulation of the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) comes at a decisive moment for the Union’s ambition to better protect human health and the environment from the harmful impacts of chemicals on the one hand and improve the services provided to industry and SMEs on the over hand. As rapporteur, I strongly believe that this reform must give ECHA the tools, capacities and flexibility it needs to deliver on rapidly expanding responsibilities. The Commission’s own explanatory memorandum already underlines the structural underfunding and rigid budgetary framework that have constrained the Agency’s work since its creation. As we expect ECHA to carry out ever more complex scientific assessments, support innovation, and ensure a truly efficient EU chemicals policy, it must be provided with stable, adequate financial resources and greater room for budgetary manoeuvre. Only then will the Agency be able to plan strategically, respond to new scientific needs, and retain the expertise necessary to protect citizens and ecosystems.

My draft report reflects this conviction. First, it reiterates that the core mission of ECHA remains the protection of human health and of the environment. This must be the compass guiding all aspects of its governance, operations and cooperation. The amendments therefore reinforce these primary objectives and clarify the Agency’s responsibilities in assessing both risks and hazards of chemicals, ensuring that the overarching purpose of prevention stays at the heart of the regulation.

Second, the report updates ECHA’s mandate to integrate horizontal tasks stemming from new legislation, most notably the One Substance One Assessment (OSOA) package, which tasks ECHA with new data-gathering and sustainability-assessment functions. The amendments reflect the need to incorporate these priorities structurally within the Agency’s objectives and operations, including enhanced monitoring of emerging risks. In this context, the Agency must also contribute to developing cutting-edge scientific knowledge. This is why the report explicitly mandates ECHA to play a role in research on the exposome, and in particular the links between exposure to hazardous chemicals and negative health impacts. Building this scientific understanding is essential if EU public policies are to reflect the real-life combined exposures European citizens face.

Third, the Basic Regulation must ensure more robust governance of ECHA’s resources. I have therefore proposed that the Agency carry out regular assessments of the adequacy between its mandate and its financial and human resources, ensuring that each expansion of tasks is matched with appropriate capacity. These assessments should directly inform the preparation of the annual budget so that political ambition and operational reality are aligned. My report also proposes that ECHA should be able to temporarily assign staff to other institutions, or finance staff or projects in other institutions, such as Member states bodies, in order to reinforce the capacity and contribute to the work of Member States Competent Authorities on tasks related to the Agency’s mandate.

Another major priority is to strengthen the cooperation between EU agencies working on health, food safety, environment and chemicals. Stakeholders and agencies themselves have repeatedly called for more coherence, shared data and better anticipatory capacity. Building on the very positive experience of the Cross-Agency One Health Task Force, my amendments propose to make this collaboration permanent through a structured and durable task force bringing together ECHA, EFSA, EMA, ECDC, EEA, and EU-OSHA. This framework will help develop joint actions, share methodologies and support a common scientific agenda for chemicals safety. It is a concrete step towards a more integrated, transdisciplinary and efficient EU chemicals governance.

In conclusion, this report aims to equip ECHA with the means, clarity of mission and collaborative architecture it needs to meet the expectations of citizens, policymakers and industry alike. A strong, well-resourced and forward-looking ECHA is indispensable for a healthier and safer Europe.

ANNEX: DECLARATION OF INPUT

Pursuant to Article 8 of Annex I to the Rules of Procedure, the rapporteur declares that he included in his report input on matters pertaining to the subject of the file that he received, in the preparation of the report, prior to the adoption thereof in committee, from the following interest representatives falling within the scope of the Interinstitutional Agreement on a mandatory transparency register, or from the following representatives of public authorities of third countries, including their diplomatic missions and embassies:

The list above is drawn up under the exclusive responsibility of the rapporteur.

Where natural persons are identified in the list by their name, by their function or by both, the rapporteur declares that he has submitted to the natural persons concerned the European Parliament's Data Protection Notice No 484 (https://www.europarl.europa.eu/data-protect/index.do), which sets out the conditions applicable to the processing of their personal data and the rights linked to that processing.

19.3.2026

BUDGETARY ASSESSMENT OF THE COMMITTEE ON BUDGETS

for the Committee on the Environment, Climate and Food Safety

on the proposal for a regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on the European Chemicals Agency and amending Regulations (EC) No 1907/2006, (EU) No 528/2012, (EU) No 649/2012 and (EU) 2019/1021

(COM(2025)0386 – C100141/2025 – 2025/0207(COD))

Rapporteur for budgetary assessment: Hélder Sousa Silva

The Committee on Budgets has carried out a budgetary assessment of the proposal under Rule 58 of the Rules of Procedure and has reached the following conclusions:

The Committee on Budgets,

– having regard to Regulation (EU, Euratom) 2024/2509 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 September 2024 on the financial rules applicable to the general budget of the Union (Financial Regulation),

– having regard to Council Regulation (EU, Euratom) 2020/2093 of 17 December 2020 laying down the multiannual financial framework for the years 2021 to 2027,

A. whereas this proposal is aimed at strengthening the governance of the European Chemicals Agency (‘the Agency’), while enabling it to effectively perform the tasks assigned to it under existing legislation and allowing its mandate to evolve in line with new responsibilities arising from adopted or forthcoming initiatives;

B. whereas the Agency is partially self-financed, with sources of income deriving from three different regulations; whereas this has required the establishment of three separate budgets and staffing plans, leading to operational inflexibility and a significant administrative burden; whereas the fees received by the Agency are highly volatile and non-linear in terms of amount and timing, mainly as a result of their one-off nature and their dependence on the strategic decisions of chemicals industry players;

C. whereas the Joint Statement of Parliament, the Council and the Commission of 19 July 2012 on decentralised agencies was signed by the three institutions after the creation of the Agency;

D. whereas in 2025, fees charged to industry accounted for around 30 % of the Agency’s general revenues, with fees charged under the REACH Regulation and the CLP Regulation representing the largest share of those fees;

E. whereas revenues from REACH fees are extremely difficult to forecast, as they are usually one-off and there is a reduction of up to 95 % for small and medium-sized enterprises;

F. whereas the Agency currently operates under a universal budgeting model, whereby revenues derived from fees charged to the chemicals industry and the balancing contribution from the EU are not segregated, possibly creating cross-subsidisation between the two;

1. Insists that the resources allocated to the Agency must be in line with the tasks entrusted to it, and notes that, at this stage, the proposal appears to provide sufficient financial and human resources for the planned changes, since the proposal’s estimated financial impact for the remaining period of the current multiannual financial framework (MFF) is limited to EUR 0.577 million in staff expenditure as operational appropriations under Heading 1, and an estimated EUR 2.956 million in administrative appropriations for the post-2027 MFF;

2. Stresses that, should additional responsibilities be granted to the Agency in the course of the negotiations, the financial implications will need to be assessed and the legislative financial and digital statement accompanying the proposal will have to be revised accordingly, in order to ensure that the financial and human resources allocated by the legislative proposal match the tasks entrusted to the Agency;

3. Reiterates that any new tasks entrusted to decentralised agencies should be financed through fresh appropriations, and that redeployments from other programmes and priorities should be limited and examined with due care;

4. Welcomes the abolition of the requirement for segregated budgets and their grouping into a single budget line for the EU budget contribution to the Agency, which simplifies the Agency’s budgeting model, enhances transparency and allows for year-on-year comparison, taking into consideration the additional tasks attributed to the Agency;

5. Welcomes the abolition of the requirement for segregated staffing plans, which removes operational impediments that affect the management of human resources, thus allowing the Agency to better adjust staff allocations in the light of its workload and improving its productivity;

6. Underlines the importance of regularly assessing the level of fees in the light of changes in costs, in line with Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2019/715;

7. Considers that, given the volatility of the revenues received by the Agency from fees and charges, the creation of a reserve for the Agency promotes the long-term sustainability of its financial model, increases its resilience to possible future crises and protects the financial interests of the EU’s budget and taxpayers; affirms that the creation of a reserve for the Agency makes it, at present, an exception among partially self-funded EU decentralised agencies, and requires close monitoring of the Agency’s operations as well as assessment in the near future;

8. Determines that the proposal is compatible with the MFF, the system of own resources, the Interinstitutional Agreement of 16 December 2020 and the budgetary principles laid down in the Financial Regulation.

AMENDMENTS

As part of its budgetary assessment, the Committee on Budgets also submits the following amendments to the proposal:

Amendment 1

Proposal for a regulation

Recital 25

Amendment 2

Proposal for a regulation

Recital 38 a (new)

Amendment 3

Proposal for a regulation

Article 29 – paragraph 4 a (new)

Amendment 4

Proposal for a regulation

Article 29 – paragraph 4 b (new)

Amendment 5

Proposal for a regulation

Article 29 – paragraph 5 – point a

Amendment 6

Proposal for a regulation

Article 29 – paragraph 5 – point b

Amendment 7

Proposal for a regulation

Article 29 – paragraph 5 – point c a (new)

Amendment 8

Proposal for a regulation

Article 29 – paragraph 6

Amendment 9

Proposal for a regulation

Article 30 – paragraph 2 a (new)

Amendment 10

Proposal for a regulation

Article 30 a (new)

ANNEX: DECLARATION OF INPUT

Pursuant to Article 8 of Annex I to the Rules of Procedure, The rapporteur for budgetary assessment declares under his exclusive responsibility that he did not include in his budgetary assessment input from interest representatives falling within the scope of the Interinstitutional Agreement on a mandatory transparency register, or from representatives of public authorities of third countries, including their diplomatic missions and embassies, to be listed in this Annex pursuant to Article 8 of Annex I to the Rules of Procedure.

PROCEDURE – COMMITTEE ASKED FOR BUDGETARY ASSESSMENT

FINAL VOTE BY ROLL CALL IN COMMITTEE ASKED FOR BUDGETARY ASSESSMENT

PROCEDURE – COMMITTEE RESPONSIBLE

FINAL VOTE BY ROLL CALL BY THE COMMITTEE RESPONSIBLE