Linköping: The new EU defence permit rules give national authorities 42 working days to decide on permits for defence projects, and treat silence as approval. The EU defence permit rules form the core of the defence readiness omnibus, which Parliament and the Council have now both endorsed. Manufacturers that have waited years for plant and test-site permits will watch the entry into force closely.

Under the EU defence permit rules, the clock starts when the single point of contact tells the applicant that the file is complete. An authority may extend the deadline twice in a given case, but the total cannot pass 102 working days. If no decision arrives in time, the permit counts as granted, and the single point of contact must inform the project promoter within eight working days. Member States may switch off that tacit approval through national law adopted within 12 months of entry into force, but only in strictly limited cases of grave risk to health or national security.

Under the EU defence permit rules, each country must set up its single point of contact within three months of entry into force. The rules apply to applications filed from three months after that date. Entry into force follows on the twentieth day after publication in the Official Journal.

Parliament approved the EU defence permit rules on 16 September 2026, with 540 votes in favour, 105 against and 22 abstentions, according to EUnews. The Council gave its final green light on 9 October, after a provisional deal with Parliament on 10 June. Lucia Yar, a Renew member, said the speed of authorisation is becoming a competitive advantage.

The omnibus also touches procurement. A companion directive raises the threshold for the defence procurement rules from €432,000 to €2 million for supplies and services, and from €5.404 million to €10 million for works. Framework agreements may now run for up to ten years. Member States have 12 months to transpose the directive and 15 months to apply it, and it adds two general transfer licences for certified suppliers and for industrial partnerships inside the Union.

A third act amends the REACH, biocides and persistent organic pollutants rules. It lets Member States grant exemptions for chemicals and biocidal products where necessary in the interests of defence. It also changes the European Defence Fund rules so that testing costs in Ukraine count retroactively from 1 January 2025.

A separate regulation creates the AGILE programme, with €115 million for small companies, start-ups and scale-ups that develop emerging defence technology. The Council adopted it on 12 October, and the first call for proposals is expected in early 2027.

For industry, the EU defence permit rules replace open-ended waits with a fixed schedule. The real test comes after the 12-month window, when governments decide whether to keep tacit approval or carve out exceptions of their own.