Brussels: European Parliament and Council negotiators struck a provisional deal late on 16 June 2026 to simplify the EU’s rules on cosmetics, chemical labelling and fertilisers, advancing the Commission’s “omnibus VI” package and the wider EU chemicals simplification drive that aims to cut red tape for industry while preserving health and environmental safeguards.

The agreement, reached in Brussels, reworks three pieces of legislation: the Cosmetics Regulation, the rules on classification, labelling and packaging of chemicals (CLP), and the EU fertilising products regulation. The Commission estimates the changes will save the sector at least €363 million a year.

What the chemicals simplification deal changes

On cosmetics, co-legislators agreed to phase out products containing banned carcinogenic, mutagenic and reprotoxic (CMR) substances faster than the Commission proposed. Once a ban takes effect, companies will have six months to stop placing affected products on the market and twelve months before they can no longer be sold, compared with the Commission’s proposed twelve and twenty-four months.

• Firms wishing to keep using a substance will have up to twelve months to request a derogation.
• Labels must stay legible, with a minimum x-height of 1.2 mm, or 0.9 mm for packages of 125 ml or less.
• For containers of 10 ml or less, some label elements – though not hazard pictograms – may move to a digital label.
• Suppliers get a 15-month deadline to update labels when a new evaluation leads to a more severe classification.

On fertilisers, negotiators chose to retain a registration obligation for substances with a harmonised classification as particularly harmful, rather than fully switching to the standard REACH regime as the Commission had suggested.

Official reaction

The Parliament’s lead negotiator in the Environment Committee, Dimitris Tsiodras, said the deal balanced lighter burdens with strong protection.

“With this agreement, we have demonstrated that simplification and a high level of protection can go hand in hand. We have reduced unnecessary burdens for businesses, strengthened the visibility of safety information for consumers and delivered greater legal certainty for industry, while fully preserving Europe’s high standards for health and environmental protection,” Tsiodras said.

Internal Market Committee rapporteur Piotr Mueller called the outcome “a genuine win for EU competitiveness”, while signalling that lawmakers would press for further changes in future reviews. Full detail is set out in the European Parliament announcement.

What happens next

The informal agreement must still be endorsed by both Parliament and Council before becoming law. It will enter into force 20 days after publication in the EU Official Journal. Parliament had already postponed application of most of the revised CLP rules to 1 January 2028 to avoid fragmented timelines.

Background

The chemicals omnibus is part of a broader simplification agenda inspired by the Draghi report on EU competitiveness, which urged Brussels to ease administrative burdens on European manufacturers. The chemical industry counts some 29,000 companies, provides 1.2 million direct jobs and supports around 19 million people across supply chains.

The package follows the European chemicals industry action plan presented in July 2025, as the EU tries to keep energy-intensive producers competitive without lowering its safety standards. Supporters argue the EU chemicals simplification will reduce duplication, while critics will watch closely to ensure consumer protections are not weakened.