23 Dec
Prepare for 2026 chemical compliance with a practical checklist covering Digital Product Passports, regulatory changes, and how Chemius supports future-ready chemical data management.
As 2026 approaches, we wish you happy holidays—and perhaps Santa will bring your board members a simple but powerful idea: chemical compliance is not a cost, but an investment. One that reduces the risk of fines, unburdens daily workloads, and makes it easier to sleep at night.
One can only dream, right?
2026 Chemical Compliance Checklist: What Every Chemical Company Must Prepare For
Chemical compliance is entering a decisive phase. By 2026, regulatory expectations in the EU and beyond will no longer tolerate fragmented documentation, static PDFs, or disconnected data silos. Instead, regulators, customers, and partners will expect structured, accessible, and continuously updated digital compliance data.
21. ATP 2024/197 applied into regulation with September 1 2025
22. ATP 2024/2564 stepping into regulation with May 1 2026
23. ATP 2025/1222 stepping into regulation with February 1 2027
What we know for now! Oh, yeah, and if your products contain benzene you should look into that to until 31. 3. 2026 – before it is too late and you get fined. Again.
This checklist is designed for regulatory managers, product owners, and compliance leaders who want clarity—not noise. It focuses on what will matter most in 2026 and how to prepare today using proven digital infrastructure.
1. Digital Product Passports (DPP): From Obligation to Operational Advantage
The EU Digital Product Passport initiative will formally begin rolling out from 2026, requiring products—including some product containing chemicals (e.g. batteries, electronics, textiles)—to carry digital records of composition, regulatory status, and sustainability-related information.
For chemical companies, this means:
- Unique product identifiers
- Substance-level disclosures (including substances of concern)
- Safety Data Sheets and Technical Data Sheets
- Transport, use, and safety instructions
- Environmental and recyclability information
Thats why we created Minimum Data Requirements for Preparing Digital Product Dossiers document (if you want to see it, send us email to support@chemius.net), a compliant digital dossier must already centralize SDSs, TDSs, formulation data, hazard classifications, transport data, and version history in a structured system, accessible across departments in your company.
Where companies struggle today: Most product data still lives across PDFs, ERPs, email inboxes, and spreadsheets. This fragmentation becomes a liability once regulators or customers request instant digital access via QR codes or online portals.
How Chemius supports this: Chemius has enabled Digital Product Dossiers with QR-based access since 2011, long before DPP became a regulatory topic. Each product already has a live digital profile containing SDSs, TDSs, labels, safety instructions, and product data—available in real time via a single scan.
In practice, this means that using Chemius today already delivers more data than the baseline DPP requirement, without additional implementation later.
2. Move Beyond PDFs: Prepare for Electronic SDS (e-SDS)
The upcoming REACH revision explicitly points toward harmonized electronic Safety Data Sheets (e-SDS) and structured data exchange between systems.
This shift changes the compliance question from: “Do you have an SDS?” to: “Can your SDS data be exchanged digitally, validated automatically, and reused across systems?”
What e-SDS readiness requires:
- Structured SDS data (not static files)
- Ability to export/import data via APIs or XML
- Centralized version control
- Automated downstream distribution
Based on the Digital Product Dossier framework, SDS data must be connected to formulations, raw materials, physical-chemical properties, toxicological and ecotoxicological data, and ADR transport details.
The role of the SDS AI Assistant
The SDS AI Assistant converts supplier SDS PDFs into structured, editable data directly inside Chemius. This eliminates manual transcription and prepares SDS content for:
- e-SDS formats
- Automated PCN submissions
- ERP and web shop integrations
- ADR API integration
- ERP API Integrations
- Digital Product Passports
Once digitized, SDS data becomes reusable—not reworked. Did we mentioned that immediately when you change something in the SDS, the information is immediately change at your supplier, distributor, or even internal sales department. That’s why permalinks are so good.
3. Regulatory Monitoring: Prepare for Faster, Stricter Enforcement
By 2026, enforcement intensity will increase across several fronts:
a) GHS, US OSHA, CLP revisions
New updates may introduce additional hazard classes or revised criteria. Companies must ensure that:
- Classifications are automatically updated
- Labels and SDSs remain aligned
- Historical versions remain traceable
b) SDS accuracy audits
Authorities are increasingly checking:
- Correct classification of mixtures
- Alignment between formulation data and SDS content
- UFI and PCN completeness
- Language and country-specific compliance
c) Sustainability data requests
Environmental data—VOC content, packaging recyclability, or absence of certain substances—is no longer only “nice to have”. It is becoming a commercial and regulatory expectation, closely linked to DPP requirements.
Chemius supports this shift by maintaining live regulatory lists and harmonized classifications.
4. Data Structure Matters: Minimum Requirements Are No Longer Optional
The Digital Product Dossier framework defines clear minimum data requirements that every future-ready company must manage centrally:
Core product data:
- Product and formulation identifiers
- Bill of materials
- Substance CAS/EC/REACH identifiers
- Concentrations and hazard statements
Safety and compliance data:
- SDS (16 sections, structured)
- Physical-chemical properties (pH, density, flash point, VOC, state)
- Toxicological and ecotoxicological data
- ADR transport classification
Documentation layer:
- Technical Data Sheets
- Labels and safety instructions
- Multilingual versions
- Version history and audit trail
Chemius is designed around this structure, not layered on top of it. The platform does not treat SDSs, TDSs, and labels as isolated documents, but as connected outputs of a single data model.
5. Automation as a Compliance Standard, Not a Bonus
Manual compliance processes will not scale into 2026. Automation is becoming the default expectation.
Where automation delivers real value:
- One-click SDS distribution to customers
- QR-coded access to live documentation
- ERP, web shop, and labeling integrations
- Reduced dependency on individual team members
Chemius functions as a digital compliance hub, combining SDS authoring, Digital Product Dossiers, regulatory monitoring, APIs, and AI-assisted data onboarding into one system.
The result is not just efficiency—it is continuity. When people change roles, regulations shift, or markets expand, compliance remains stable.
2026 Readiness Checklist (Executive Summary)
- ✅ Digital Product Dossiers in place
- ✅ QR-based access to live product data
- ✅ SDS data stored in structured, reusable format
- ✅ SDS AI Assistant for supplier onboarding
- ✅ Prepared for e-SDS and API-based reporting
- ✅ Continuous regulatory monitoring
- ✅ Centralized data model covering SDS, TDS, labels, ADR
- ✅ Automation across compliance workflows
Why Acting Before 2026 Matters
Companies that wait for formal enforcement will face rushed implementations, higher costs, and operational friction. Those who prepare early gain something more valuable: predictability.
With Chemius, chemical compliance shifts from a reactive obligation to a controlled, digital process that supports growth, transparency, and regulatory confidence—well beyond 2026.
