JULY 2026

Dear Reader,

As we approach the summer period of 2026, recent months have been marked by a number of important regulatory and technical developments for the sector.

ECHA published the long-awaited FAQ providing additional clarifications ahead of the application of the formaldehyde and formaldehyde-releasing substances restriction on 6 August 2026 for furniture, wood-based articles and other indoor-use articles. Interiors of road vehicles have until 6 August 2027. POM producers have been working to correlate commonly used analytical methodologies to the requirements of the restriction.

We continue supporting downstream users in building a consistent understanding and implementation approach across the value chain.
We also continue to work actively with industry partners to follow the ongoing developments concerning melamine now that the Classification and Labelling (CLH) process has started.

One year on, the dedicated Analytical Task Force is now fully in its stride, remaining actively engaged in improving the understanding of analytical methods and related testing practices for formaldehyde chemistries. Work also continues in the Sustainability Task Force, supporting ongoing exchanges on sustainability-related priorities for the sector.

I wish you a restful summer and looking forward to resuming our discussions in September.

Yours sincerely,

Lars Eric Johansson
Formacare Chairman
Executive Vice President, Industrial Relations at OXEA

FORMACARE UPDATES

ECHA’s Frequently Asked Questions published

In April 2026, ECHA issued the FAQs accompanying the guidelines on measuring formaldehyde released from articles and formaldehyde concentrations in vehicle interiors (published in May 2025). Although the FAQs provide welcome and much-needed clarification, their publication comes at a late stage, with the restriction date fast approaching. The document currently contains 16 question-and-answer pairs addressing scope, release limits, placing on the market, complex products, testing principles and exemptions. Formacare is therefore continuing its work with downstream users to help translate these clarifications into a practical and aligned implementation approach.

TO THE FAQ+

ADVOCACY UPDATES

Melamine developments

We continue to follow closely the regulatory processes involving melamine. Whilst there are no updates concerning the authorisation process (please see December 2025 Newsletter) on 16 February ECHA officially published the melamine CLH dossier, marking the start of the public consultation period, which ended on 17 April 2026 (Harmonised classification and labelling consultations – ECHA).

Reminder: Melamine is already classified as Carcinogenic 2 and Specific Target Organ Toxicity Repeated Exposure 2 (STOT RE – urinary tract) and in 2023 was identified as a substance of very high concern (SVHC) due to its “very high persistence, high mobility in water, potential for being transported in the water phase over long distances and toxicity” (PMT, vPvM).

The dossier prepared by the German competent authorities proposes to reclassify melamine to include:

  • The new environmental endpoints: Persistent Mobile and Toxic (PMT) and very Persistent very Mobile (vPvM).
  • Reprotoxic 2 but going beyond the self classification already practiced by industry.

As the CLH process is based exclusively on scientific evidence, the REACH melamine consortium led the preparation of the consultation submission. Formacare supported this work but did not submit a separate position. We will continue to support the melamine consortium in close collaboration with other actors in the value chain as the related regulatory processes progress.

 

Next steps in the procedure

 

  • Q1 2027: Risk Assessment Committee (RAC) of ECHA will conduct its assessment of the CLH dossier. The evidence received during the stakeholder consultation will also be taken into consideration.
  • 2027: European Commission to adopt the re-classification of melamine (based on the RAC final opinion)
  • 2028-2029: 18-month transition period