At the start of the year, the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) suspended the processing of certain authorisation applications for Cr(VI). This affects applicants whose authorisations are covered by existing consortia – such as the VECCO consortium HAPOC 1 – and for whom no ECHA processing fee has been charged to date.
The background to this is a policy shift in regulation: against the backdrop of a planned restriction on Cr(VI), ECHA’s resources are to be focused on other substances in future. At the same time, it is planned to extend existing authorisations without bureaucratic hurdles until January 2029.
The decision is increasing uncertainty within the industry. Whilst the regulatory signals clearly point towards a restriction, the specific details of this remain unclear. Reliable clarity is not expected until the opinions of the ECHA committees RAC and SEAC are issued in May 2026 at the earliest.
In a Q&A published on 10 December 2025, the European Commission comments on the planned measures. In particular, the question of whether existing authorisations will remain valid after a restriction comes into force remains unanswered. The document remains vague and deals predominantly with scenarios.
The industry is also critical of the fact that the issue of substitution is once again set to become a central component of the regulation. There is a risk that the planned restriction will entail the same bureaucratic burden as the previous authorisation system. Members can find further information in the members’ area.
The Q&A document can be found here:
A comment from the VECCO Executive Board, Matthias Enseling, can be found at:
