In December 2006, the EU adopted a new common chemicals law called REACH. REACH stands for Registration, Evaluation and Authorization of Chemicals. REACH entered into force on 1 June 2007 and replaced around 40 previous directives. Since REACH was adopted, chemical manufacturers and importers themselves have been responsible for obtaining knowledge about the substance's properties, including a possible risk of using them before they can be approved. Before REACH came into force, it was up to the authorities to demonstrate that a chemical was dangerous if they wanted to take it off the market. The purpose of the law is to ensure that the more than 100.000 different chemicals used in the EU have been examined in relation to safety for people and the environment, and that they are used responsibly. With REACH, it was established that chemical legislation in Europe is based on the precautionary principle. REACH regulates all import, use and marketing of chemical substances.  

Chemical substances and mixtures must be classified, labeled and packaged properly to prevent accidents among users and minimize the impact on the environment. The rules for this are described in the so-called CLP regulation. CLP stands for Classification, Labeling and Packaging of chemicals. 

Denmark is subject to the EU's chemicals legislation and can only make national legislation in the area in special cases. 

When REACH entered into force in 2007, it was in many ways a big step on the way to a more toxic-free Europe, but at the same time it has also been recognized that the regulation is insufficient in many areas. Furthermore, there were several important decisions which, before the adoption of REACH and CLP, were postponed for future revisions due to a lack of knowledge in the area, e.g. how nanomaterials and hormone-disrupting substances must be regulated. 

The level of ambition rises 

In December 2019, the EU Commission presented the European Green Pact. A large number of initiatives follow the Green Pact, including e.g. to work with a specific focus on achieving a clean and circular economy and a toxic-free environment. As part of this effort, the EU Commission presented the EU's chemicals strategy for sustainability in October 2020. Here we saw for the first time, since the EU's chemicals legislation REACH was adopted in 2006, the real possibility of a serious upgrade and strengthening of the legal text, including that many more chemicals can be banned and phased out. With the chemicals strategy, it was envisaged that REACH and the CLP regulation. REACH has not lived up to its goal of protecting people and the environment from harmful substances, but this could change the picture. With REACH, the EU has by far the most ambitious chemical legislation in the world. But it is poorly implemented and the processes take place infinitely slowly, which has led to far too many problematic chemicals being placed on the market. Chemicals that people and the environment are exposed to on a daily basis. With the revision, the REACH regulations must be simplified and made less burdensome, but at the same time also ensure more information, so that assessments can be prepared faster, ensure better registration and approvals of chemicals in the EU. The future REACH regulations must also support better traceability of chemicals that today hinder responsible recycling and product safety. 

As part of the Chemicals Strategy, the Commission presented in April 2022 a road map for group restriction (Restrictions Roadmap), which sets out to ban thousands of harmful chemicals. Today, one chemical is investigated at a time and does not take into account the fact that many are chemically similar and thus probably also have uniform effects. With this roadmap, it is planned that groups of chemicals must be banned at once, which could mean banning several thousand chemicals at a time.  

Finally, in December 2022, the EU Commission presented new hazard classes for endocrine-disrupting substances and the most difficult-to-degrade chemicals, the so-called PMT/vPvM and PBT/vPvB, which includes persistent, mobile, toxic and bioaccumulative substances. These tools are essential for better protection of our health and environment – ​​a regulation that has been overdue for more than 15 years.