Simplification: Council approves ‘stop-the-clock’ mechanism on chemicals to provide legal certainty to businesses 10:12 Council agrees position on the ‘stop-the-clock’[...]

Member states' representatives approved today the Council's position on one of the Commission's proposals to simplify EU rules and thus boost EU competitiveness in the field of chemical products. This proposal (the so-called 'Stop-the-clock' mechanism) postpones to 1 January 2028 the date of entry into application of the revised regulation on classification, labelling, and packaging of chemicals (CLP regulation). The proposal also amends the timelines for relabelling, mandatory formatting requirements, advertisements, distance sales and labelling of fuel pumps.

The proposal forms part of the 'Omnibus VI' package adopted by the Commission at the beginning of July 2025 to simplify EU legislation in the field of chemical products. In view of significant implications for the business community, the Danish presidency has treated this proposal with utmost priority with the aim of providing EU companies with the necessary legal certainty as regards their obligations.

Member states have broadly shared the presidency's sense of urgency and, in that view, supported the Commission's proposal to move the entry into application to 1 January 2028 for the mandatory formatting requirements, provisions on advertisements and distance sales regarding chemical products. This will provide legal certainty to economic operators and avoid having different application dates for the same type of obligations imposed on businesses by two amending acts to the CLP Regulation.

A possible swift agreement between the co-legislators will provide them with time to agree on substantive changes to the CLP regulation, also proposed by the Commission as part of the 'Omnibus VI' package on chemicals.

Next steps

Following today's approval of the Council's negotiating mandate by Coreper, the presidency will negotiate with the European Parliament to reach a final agreement.

Background

In October 2024, the European Council called on all EU institutions, member states and stakeholders, as a matter of priority, to take work forward, notably in response to the challenges identified in the reports by Enrico Letta ('Much more than a market') and Mario Draghi ('The future of European competitiveness'). The Budapest declaration of 8 November 2024 subsequently called for 'launching a simplification revolution', by ensuring a clear, simple and smart regulatory framework for businesses and drastically reducing administrative, regulatory and reporting burdens, in particular for SMEs. Between 26 February and 9 July 2025, as a follow-up to EU leaders' call, the Commission put forward six 'Omnibus' packages, aiming to simplify existing legislation on sustainability, investment, agriculture, small and mid-caps, digitalisation and common specifications, defence readiness and chemical products.

The proposals of "Omnibus VI" aim to simplify certain provisions in three major pieces of EU chemical legislation while maintaining a high level of protection. The three regulations to be amended are:

• LP regulation (EC) 1272/2008 on classification, labelling and packaging of substances and mixtures and the revised CLP Regulation (EU) 2865/2024,
• cosmetics regulation (EC) 1223/2009 on cosmetic products, and
• fertilising products regulation (EU) 2019/1009 laying down rules on the making available on the market of EU fertilising products.

• Regulation amending regulation (EU) 2024/2865 as regards dates of application and transitional provisions, Commission proposal, 9 July 2025