On 16 June 2026, the European Parliament and Council reached a political agreement on the "Chemicals Omnibus VI" package, a set of targeted amendments covering three separate pieces of EU legislation: the Cosmetics Regulation (Reg. (EC) No 1223/2009), the Classification, Labelling and Packaging Regulation (CLP, Reg. (EC) No 1272/2008), and the EU Fertilising Products Regulation (Reg. (EU) 2019/1009). The stated goal is to reduce administrative burden and introduce more operational flexibility without lowering health or environmental protection standards.
Cosmetics: tighter CMR phase-out timelines than the Commission proposed
CMR substances -those classified as carcinogenic, mutagenic, or reprotoxic- are prohibited in cosmetic products under the Cosmetics Regulation, with limited scope for derogation. The Omnibus VI proposal introduced staggered transition periods for when a substance a company uses becomes newly prohibited, and co-legislators agreed on those transitions while shortening them compared to the Commission's original text.
Where no derogation is requested, companies have 6 months to stop placing affected products on the market and 12 months before those products can no longer be made available. If a derogation request is submitted, companies have up to 12 months from the new classification to file it, and the phase-out clock starts only once a decision on that request is issued. If the derogation is refused on safety grounds, the windows are 3 and 9 months respectively. If refused because a suitable alternative exists, companies get 24 months to stop placing products on the market and 36 months before availability ends.
Two other outcomes are worth noting. Co-legislators rejected the Commission's proposal to exempt CMR substances based on oral or inhalation exposure routes, keeping the prohibition scope intact. They also reintroduced the requirement to notify the Commission before placing nanomaterial-containing cosmetics on the market, though without reinstating the previous 6-month advance notification window.
CLP: a fixed deadline and expanded digital labelling
For companies handling chemical classification and labelling under CLP, the agreement introduces a 15-month deadline to update labels when a new hazard evaluation leads to a more severe classification. Previously, the obligation was to act "without undue delay," a formulation that left compliance timelines open to interpretation. A fixed deadline removes that uncertainty.
Take a substance that undergoes a harmonised classification change resulting in an additional hazard category. Under the previous wording, a supplier could reasonably argue about what "undue delay" means in their supply chain context. Under the new rule, the 15-month clock runs from the date of the new evaluation, giving a clear reference point for both suppliers and enforcement authorities.
On digital labelling, the agreement expands its permitted use while maintaining a firm boundary: hazard pictograms must remain on the physical label. For substances in containers of 10 ml or less, certain label elements other than pictograms may be provided digitally. Minimum font size requirements are now specified numerically, with an x-height of at least 1.2 mm for standard packaging and at least 0.9 mm for packages with a capacity up to 125 ml, replacing more general legibility language and giving manufacturers a defined design reference.
It is also worth recalling the broader context here: Parliament voted last year to postpone application of most of the revised CLP Regulation to 1 January 2028, giving industry more time to adapt before these new provisions also apply.
Fertilisers: a partial rollback of the Commission's REACH proposal
The Commission had proposed replacing the extended REACH registration requirement for substances used in fertilising products with the standard REACH regime. Co-legislators agreed to simplify the fertiliser regulation overall but retained a specific REACH registration obligation for substances carrying a harmonised classification as particularly harmful. The simplification therefore applies across a portion of the sector, not universally.
Next steps
The political agreement now needs formal endorsement by both Parliament and Council before publication in the EU Official Journal. It enters into force 20 days after publication.
Source: European Parliament press release, 16 June 2026
Full press release: europarl.europa.eu