A roadmap to nowhere? The EU’s bold plan to quit the most harmful chemicals is a year old. We assess its effectiveness.

In April 2022, the European Commission published the Restriction Roadmap, a plan to rapidly ban most notorious harmful chemicals through the REACH Regulation still found in consumer products. This review on the progress one year later, by ClientEarth and the European Environmental Bureau (EEB), shows that the implementation of this ‘great detox’ comes short of its promise. Despite the Commission’s legal obligation, strong political mandate of the Chemicals Strategy for Sustainability and powers to ensure broad and rapid bans, it allows and even contributes to slow and weak regulation.