European legislators agree on legal text for the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA)

The regulation, agreed by co-legislators from the European Parliament and EU Member States on 29 June 2026, aims to equip the agency with the structure and financial means to manage its growing number of duties efficiently. Most importantly for the fragrance industry, the SCCS, which carries out safety assessments of cosmetic ingredients, moves from the European Commission into ECHA.

Throughout the process, IFRA, together with industry partners from the cosmetics value chain, consistently called for the SCCS to be integrated into ECHA as a stand-alone committee whose independence and unique scientific expertise are fully preserved. A central ask was to keep the SCCS' internal structure intact — in particular, that the Chairperson continue to be elected from among the committee's own members rather than being an ECHA employee. Unfortunately, it is our understanding that this peer-led chairmanship was not confirmed in the final regulation.

IFRA will follow the transition of the SCCS into ECHA, with a focus on preserving the committee's unique expertise and academic excellence and avoiding operational uncertainty.

JW