SSbD revised: Recommendation (EU) 2026/510 updates the 2022 framework — scoping analysis first, tiered assessment from qualitative to quantitative and a new socio-economic dimension
Commission Recommendation (EU) 2026/510 of 6 March 2026, published on 10 March, sets out the revised European assessment framework for “safe and sustainable by design” (SSbD) chemicals and materials. It is a voluntary decision-making approach for innovation, addressed to industry, including SMEs and start-ups, Member States, universities and research and technology organisations; it builds on Recommendation (EU) 2022/2510 and two testing phases of the framework.
- The framework keeps the (re)design and assessment phases and adds a scoping analysis at the start — defining the system under study, the design principles and the life cycle actors. Besides safety and environmental sustainability it now covers a socio-economic dimension (e.g. working conditions, supply chain vulnerability, critical raw materials, skilled labour shortages) and allows the assessment to start at different levels of innovation maturity.
- The safety assessment is tiered, from qualitative through semi-quantitative to quantitative. Early on, hazard identification uses safety data sheets, CLP classification, databases, QSAR models and read-across; as the innovation progresses — in vitro methods and validated new approach methodologies (NAMs), later integrated approaches to testing and assessment (IATA), and in vivo testing only where justified and ethically acceptable.
- Where possible the safety criterion relies on the risk characterisation ratio (RCR): an RCR > 1 means the risk is not adequately controlled. Environmental sustainability is assessed by LCA using the Environmental Footprint (PEF) impact categories; at a very early stage a proxy indicator such as the reaction mass balance is recommended.
- Methods, models and data are to follow the FAIR principles and be shared, in cooperation with ECHA, EEA and EFSA, through the common EU chemicals data platform. The Commission will provide a reporting template and methodological guidance; DG RTD announced a presentation of the framework at a conference on 19 March 2026.