EU Council and Parliament strike deal for safer detergents

The Council and the European Parliament have reached a political provisional deal on an update to the regulation on detergents and surfactants. The changes will strengthen product safety and improve market access for all detergent products, including innovative microbial cleaning solutions. A key feature is the introduction of a digital product passport, accessible via tools like QR codes. These passports will be required at EU borders, including for online sales. in addition, voluntary digital labelling will also be available to ensure product information is accessible to all consumers, regardless of digital literacy.

The new regulation also enhances protection against unsafe products entering the EU, especially in online sales. Detergents imported from outside the EU must have an EU-based importer or authorised representative to ensure compliance and cooperate with national authorities. This will help strengthen market surveillance and consumer safety. To strengthen environmental protection, under the new rules, the Commission is to develop new biodegradability criteria for detergents other than surfactants, giving priority to polymeric detergent capsule films, followed by the development of biodegradability criteria for other organic substances present in detergents in a concentration of at least 10 percent. Animal testing will be generally banned for detergent products.

Public health will remain a priority, the agreement will support emergency health responses by requiring information on ingredients to be submitted to national poison centres for non-hazardous detergents before they enter the market.

Additionally, the new rules support sustainability efforts, including by promoting the safe and accessible sale of detergents through refill stations to reduce packaging waste. The agreement aligns detergents legislation with standard product rules already in place for about 30 product categories, thus simplifying compliance for businesses and enforcement for national authorities.

The political agreement is now subject to formal approval by the European Parliament and the Council. It will enter into force 20 days after its publication in the Official Journal. The new rules will start applying for economic operators 42 months after entry into force.

Source: EUbusiness