News Details

On 16 December 2025, committees of the European Parliament adopted compromise amendments to the Defence Readiness Omnibus that substantially revise how exemptions from EU chemicals legislation would apply to defence-related activities.

Background: Defence Readiness Omnibus

The Defence Readiness Omnibus is a legislative package proposed by the European Commission to accelerate defence investments and strengthen the EU’s defence industrial base. The initiative seeks to simplify administrative and regulatory procedures affecting defence production, including targeted amendments to several EU product and chemicals regulations.

As part of the package, the Commission proposed expanding the scope for Member States to grant exemptions from certain regulatory requirements where necessary in the interest of defence. These proposals have now been revised by the European Parliament’s responsible committees.

REACH Regulation Exemptions

Under the Parliament’s compromise amendments, exemptions from the REACH Regulation would be explicitly limited to defence uses only. The committees rejected the Commission’s proposal to remove the current limitation that exemptions must apply only in “specific cases” in the interest of defence.

For dual-use technologies, where defence and non-defence products are manufactured on the same production line, Member States may, under defined conditions, exempt the entire output of that line from certain REACH obligations. These exemptions may cover:

• registration requirements

• communication and information duties

However, the amendments specify that exemptions must not apply to:

• restrictions

• authorisation requirements

This approach aims to ensure that non-defence uses do not automatically benefit from defence-related exemptions.

CLP Regulation Exemptions

The Defence Omnibus amendments also introduce defence-related derogations under the CLP Regulation. Member States would be allowed to grant exemptions from certain classification, labelling and packaging obligations for substances and mixtures used for defence purposes, subject to national conditions.

As with REACH, the Parliament limits the scope of these exemptions to defence uses and maintains the application of core hazard controls where necessary to protect human health and the environment.

Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) Regulation Exemptions

The Defence Readiness Omnibus also proposes targeted changes to the Persistent Organic Pollutants Regulation to accommodate defence-related needs.

Under the Parliament’s compromise amendments, defence-specific considerations would be introduced into the application of certain obligations under the POPs framework. While the core objectives of eliminating or restricting POPs remain unchanged, the amendments would allow Member States to take defence readiness into account when applying reporting and compliance requirements in limited and justified cases.

As with other parts of the Omnibus, the Parliament seeks to ensure that any defence-related flexibility does not undermine the overall level of protection for human health and the environment, and that exemptions are narrowly framed and subject to oversight.

Biocidal Products Regulation Exemptions

For the Biocidal Products Regulation, the compromise amendments would allow Member States to exempt biocidal products and treated articles used for defence purposes from selected regulatory requirements.

The amendments again distinguish between defence and non-defence uses and introduce safeguards for dual-use situations, preventing the broad extension of defence exemptions to civilian applications.

Diverging institutional positions

While Parliament has opted for a narrower and more conditional framework for defence-related exemptions, the Council of the European Union adopted its negotiation mandate in November 2025 without altering the Commission’s original proposal.

The Defence Readiness Omnibus will now move to interinstitutional negotiations, where the scope and conditions of exemptions from EU chemicals legislation are expected to remain a key point of debate.