(How) Can Chemical Pollution, Competitiveness, and New Approach Methodologies Be Aligned?

On April 10, 2025, scientists from the SynCom Project, ‘Modernizing Hazard Indicators’ (ModHaz) organized the SynCom Flex workshop ‘EU Stakeholder Perspectives on the REACH Revision: (How) Can Chemical Pollution, Competitiveness, and New Approach Methodologies Be Aligned?’ at the EU Liaison Office of the German Research Organisations in Brussels. 

With about 25 participants across the European Parliament, the European Commission, industry, NGOs, and academia, and 15 scienists from different Helmholtz centres, the workshop helped identify practical agreements on regulatory requirements and industry needs on chemical risk assessments.

The workshop opened with introductory remarks from Dr. Andreas Krell (Helmholtz Brussels) and Henry Hempel (UFZ) who framed the context for the subsequent deliberations. This was followed by three impulse lectures by Helmholtz scientists, where,

Dr. Pia-Johanna Schweizer (RIFS/GFZ) offered insights on how the ModHaz project is refining assessment indicators to strike a balance between chemical pollution management and industrial competitiveness;

Prof. Dr. Beate Escher (UFZ) presented the concept of New Approach Methodologies (NAMs) and how EU Chemicals Policy could be informed by CTE/PTE;

and Henry Hempel (UFZ) shed light on on-going debates and future pathways from the viewpoint of stakeholders.

Further, deeper exchanges focused on stakeholder perspectives took place in a World Café format on the following:

• Priorities and Trade-Offs of the REACH Revision: Key priorities in European chemical regulation; areas of practical compromises, and non-negotiable boundaries
• NAMs and the CTE/PTE Concept: Exploring the scope of integrating NAMs (including CTE/PTE) into CLP or REACH; endpoints or processes that should be considered for future practices
• Actors of EU Chemicals Policy: Stakeholder’s role in shaping the REACH revision; mapping of actors who have experienced a shift in their influence in EU Chemicals Policy

The workshop closed with a networking lunch allowing further dialogue on aligning the agreements, considerations and the NAMs in the revised legislation. Participants of the workshop appreciated the opportunity to interact, “understand other sector’s perspectives” and acknowledged the need for “rethinking of ways to bridge collaboration”. It was also emphasized that the workshop helped in “highlighting major issues” and initiate a “paradigm shift” in chemicals regulation. Participants also valued the “inter-disciplinary approach” of the workshop, and look forward to an informed EU Chemicals policy landscape.