Brubru
EU policy intelligence
Regulation (EU) 2026/405 is the EU's rulebook for detergents, the cleaning products used on fabrics, dishes and surfaces, and for the surfactants used to make them. Signed on 11 February 2026, it replaces the 2004 Detergents Regulation, adds the EU's first harmonised safety regime for detergents containing living micro-organisms, regulates refill sales for the first time, and creates a dedicated digital product passport and digital label under Chapters IV and V. Unlike its sibling sectoral Regulations, it deliberately keeps the single, least-stringent self-declaration route and never introduces a CE mark.
What the Detergents Regulation is, why it exists, and how it is structured
The Detergents Regulation is the EU's rulebook for detergents, cleaning products for fabrics, dishes and surfaces, and for the surfactants used to make them. Signed on 11 February 2026, it replaces Regulation (EC) No 648/2004, the 2004 Detergents Regulation. The Commission's evaluation of that Regulation found it had achieved its objectives to a large extent, but identified real weaknesses: duplicated information requirements against a chemicals framework that has changed since 2004, enforcement gaps in online sales, and market developments the old rules never anticipated, in particular detergents with intentionally added micro-organisms and the growth of refill sales (recitals 2 to 3).
The Regulation sits at the intersection of chemicals regulation, consumer information and the EU's circular economy agenda. It complements rather than duplicates other EU chemicals law: it applies without prejudice to REACH, the CLP Regulation and the Biocidal Products Regulation (Article 1(2), recital 9). It also plugs detergents and end-user surfactants into the EU's wider digital product passport architecture alongside toys, construction products and batteries, and explicitly anticipates that a future extension of the horizontal Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation could bring detergents within its own scope, in which case a single, shared digital product passport would serve both instruments (recital 47).
Two things distinguish this Regulation from its digital-product-passport-family siblings. First, it is the first EU product law to set harmonised safety rules for detergents containing living micro-organisms, an entirely new product category the 2004 Regulation could not have addressed. Second, unlike the Toy Safety Regulation or the Construction Products Regulation, it does not introduce CE marking or third-party notified-body conformity assessment: manufacturers self-declare compliance under the single, least-stringent conformity assessment route, Module A of Decision No 768/2008/EC (recital 19, Annex IV).
Chapter V (Articles 21 to 25) creates a dedicated digital product passport for detergents and end-user surfactants, built to be interoperable with the ESPR's digital product passport system and registered in the same Commission-run digital registry, with automated verification at the EU's external borders via the interconnection between that registry and the European Union Customs Single Window Certificates Exchange System, EU CSW-CERTEX. This makes the Detergents Regulation one of the 13 acts in Brubru's EU Digital Product Passport legal architecture, alongside its sibling sectoral Regulations, the Toy Safety Regulation and the Construction Products Regulation, and the horizontal Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation.
The five building blocks of Regulation (EU) 2026/405
The key figures from Regulation (EU) 2026/405
37 articles across 8 chapters
| Chapter | Title | Articles |
|---|---|---|
| I | General provisions | 1-2 |
| II | Product requirements | 3-7 |
| III | Obligations of economic operators | 8-16 |
| IV | Labelling | 17-20 |
| V | Digital product passport | 21-25 |
| VI | Market surveillance | 26-29 |
| VII | Delegated powers and committee procedure | 30-32 |
| VIII | Transitional and final provisions | 33-37 |
Almost the whole Regulation applies from 23 September 2029, but two named exceptions apply from entry into force, 22 March 2026, instead: the animal-testing ban of Article 7, and the Commission's power under Article 4(3) to (4) to set future biodegradability criteria for detergent-capsule films and for high-concentration organic ingredients, criteria which then apply from 23 March 2032 and 23 March 2034 respectively (Article 37, second paragraph).
What counts as a detergent and a surfactant, and the safety thresholds behind them
A detergent is a substance, mixture or micro-organisms, or a combination of these, intended to clean, soak, rinse or bleach fabrics, dishes or surfaces, to modify fabric feel or odour, or to support the cleaning process alongside a laundry or dishwasher detergent (Article 2(1)). A surfactant is any organic substance or mixture with surface-active properties meeting the four technical criteria of Article 2(11). An end-user surfactant is a surfactant made available directly to professionals or consumers, as distinct from one sold business-to-business for manufacturing detergents (Article 2(12)); because most surfactants are sold business-to-business, only minimum rules apply to them, while the digital product passport obligation attaches only to detergents and end-user surfactants (recital 7). Article 2 sets out 40 definitions in total.
Surfactants, alone or in a detergent, must achieve ultimate aerobic biodegradation, meaning micro-organisms break the substance down to carbon dioxide, water and mineral salts, of at least 60 percent within 28 days under one of four test methods, or at least 70 percent within 28 days under one of two other methods. Pre-adaptation of test organisms is not allowed. Annex I Parts B, C and D, covering water-soluble polymeric films and other organic substances added at 10 percent by weight or more, are headings only today; their criteria are due by future Commission delegated acts, applying from 23 March 2032 and 23 March 2034 respectively. Do not treat any percentage threshold for those two categories as fixed yet, only the Part A surfactant figures and the compliance deadlines are settled.
Chapter II establishes the EU's first harmonised safety regime for detergents with intentionally added living micro-organisms. Every added strain must be genome-sequenced and fully taxonomically identified; seven named pathogenic species must never be present; genetically modified micro-organisms are prohibited outright; strains must remain susceptible to five major antibiotic classes; and products must carry a minimum standard plate count of 1x10^5 CFU per millilitre or gram when placed on the market, falling no lower than 1x10^4 CFU per millilitre or gram by the end of a shelf life of at least 18 months. A strain-and-product-level risk assessment is mandatory under a Commission methodology due by 23 September 2028 (Article 30(6)).
Article 6 and Annex III cap phosphorus content at 0.5 grams per recommended dose for consumer laundry detergents and 0.3 grams per standard dose for consumer automatic dishwasher detergents. Article 7 prohibits placing on the market any detergent or surfactant whose final formulation or ingredients were animal-tested to meet this Regulation, while allowing continued use of data acquired before 22 March 2026 and a narrow Commission derogation route after consulting the European Centre for the Validation of Alternative Methods.
Differentiated obligations for every actor in the detergent and surfactant supply chain
Manufacturers must ensure design and production meet the Regulation's requirements, draw up technical documentation and carry out the Module A conformity assessment, create the digital product passport and upload identifiers to the registry, all before placing a detergent or surfactant on the market. They must maintain series-production conformity, carry out risk-appropriate sample testing, comply with labelling requirements, submit the ingredients data sheet to Member States' appointed emergency-response bodies for mixtures not already notified under CLP Article 45, and keep technical documentation and the digital product passport for 10 years.
Authorised representatives act only within a written mandate, verifying the digital product passport, registry upload, technical documentation and conformity assessment are in order, and keeping documentation available for 10 years. Importers place on the market only compliant products, verifying the same elements before doing so and providing and updating the ingredients data sheet. Distributors verify the label, and any digital label and data carrier, before making a product available, and must submit the ingredients data sheet to the appointed body in a new Member State where the product is first made available there, unless another operator already has.
Anyone offering detergents or end-user surfactants through refill stations must apply risk mitigation measures, in particular preventing unsupervised child access and training staff, and ensure products offered at the same station do not react dangerously with each other (Article 12). Importers or distributors who place a product under their own name or trademark, modify it in a way affecting compliance, or make a non-end-user surfactant available to end-users, assume full manufacturer obligations (Article 13). Those who package or repackage a product outside that scope must mark it "packaged by" or "repackaged by" with their own contact details (Article 14). Making a product available through a refill station is not treated as packaging or repackaging.
All economic operators must, on request, identify who supplied them and who they supplied, for 10 years both ways (Article 15). Appointed bodies and medical personnel receiving the ingredients data sheet, the confidential document listing a mixture's full formula, must keep it confidential, using it only for emergency health response or Member State, Commission or European Chemicals Agency statistical risk-management analysis (Article 16).
A physical label stays the baseline, but part of it can now move online for the first time
Detergents and surfactants made available in individual packaging or through refill must be accompanied by a label carrying the Annex V Part A information, plus Annex V Part B dosage information for consumer laundry detergents, consumer automatic dishwasher detergents and consumer detergents for surfaces. By default all information must still be duplicated on the physical label, even where a digital label is also offered (Article 18(1)(b)).
Three carve-outs allow digital-only provision. Content that may go digital regardless of sales channel: anionic, cationic, amphoteric and non-ionic surfactants, phosphates, phosphonates and soap. Content that may go digital for refill sales specifically extends further, excluding only fragrance allergen and preservative content, which must always remain physically visible to protect against allergic reactions (recital 38). Dosage information for consumer laundry detergents may go digital-only if a simplified dosage grid still appears on the physical label.
A digital label must be searchable, accessible EU-wide, linked via the same data carrier as the digital product passport, designed with vulnerable users in mind, compatible with major browsers and operating systems, and available for 10 years, including through the creating operator's insolvency or cessation of activity. Economic operators must not track or analyse usage beyond what is strictly necessary, and must provide the same information free of charge on request or whenever the digital label is temporarily unavailable, including at the point of purchase. The Commission must adopt technical requirements for digital labelling by 1 October 2028.
The Regulation's most structurally new element, entirely absent from the 2004 Regulation
Before placing a detergent or end-user surfactant on the market, the manufacturer must create a digital product passport corresponding to a specific model, stating compliance has been demonstrated, and remaining available for 10 years, including through insolvency or cessation of activity. Mandatory content includes the trade name, unique product identifier, a colour image, manufacturer and importer contact details, the manufacturer's unique operator identifier, the passport service provider hosting the back-up copy, traceability information, applicable commodity codes, references to Union law complied with, the full list of intentionally added substances, and, where relevant, the taxonomic list of intentionally added micro-organisms.
The data carrier connecting to the digital product passport must be physically present on the label, packaging or accompanying documents, indelible, machine-processable, present at refill stations, and carry a scan-for-more-information statement visible before purchase, including in distance sales. Before placing a product on the market, the responsible economic operator uploads the unique product identifier and unique operator identifier to the registry established under the ESPR, which automatically issues a unique registration identifier, itself not proof of compliance. When such a product enters the Union for release for free circulation, customs authorities may release it only after verifying that identifier against the registry, a control that runs automatically via the interconnection with EU CSW-CERTEX, applying from 23 September 2029 or when that interconnection becomes operational, whichever is later.
Where a detergent or end-user surfactant already falls under a digital product passport obligation in other Union law, in particular if the Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation is later extended to cover detergents, a single, shared digital product passport must be used rather than two separate ones (Article 21(6), recitals 46 to 48).
The Regulation's clearest divergence from its digital-product-passport-family siblings
Unlike the Toy Safety Regulation and the Construction Products Regulation, the Detergents Regulation does not introduce a CE mark and has no notified-body conformity assessment. Compliance is demonstrated exclusively through a manufacturer's self-declaration, the technical documentation, and the digital product passport. There is only one conformity assessment route: Module A, internal production control, the least stringent of the modules set out in Decision No 768/2008/EC (recital 19, Annex IV point 1). Do not describe detergents as carrying a CE mark; they do not.
The technical documentation must include a general description of the detergent or surfactant, test reports demonstrating compliance with the Annex I and II biodegradability and micro-organism criteria, the list of test methods used, calculation results against the Annex II and III limit values, and an ingredients data sheet: trade name, unique formula identifier, manufacturer details, intended use, the full list of intentionally added substances with weight-percentage banding, and, where applicable, the taxonomic list of micro-organisms and their standard plate count.
By creating the digital product passport for a model, a manufacturer assumes responsibility for that product's compliance with the Regulation. Technical documentation and the digital product passport must both remain available for 10 years after the detergent or surfactant is placed on the market, the same retention period used across every other DPP-family Regulation.
National enforcement and the Union safeguard procedure, built on Regulation (EU) 2019/1020
A market surveillance authority with reason to believe a detergent or surfactant poses a risk to human health or the environment must evaluate it and, if non-compliance is found, require corrective action within a reasonable period; if the operator fails to act adequately, the authority takes provisional measures, prohibition, restriction, withdrawal or recall, and notifies the Commission and other Member States via the ICSMS information system. A provisional national measure is deemed justified if no Member State or the Commission objects within three months. The Union safeguard procedure, modernised and aligned with the examination procedure under Regulation (EU) No 182/2011, lets the Commission determine by implementing act whether a contested national measure is justified.
As with the Toy Safety Regulation, market surveillance authorities can act against a detergent or surfactant that is technically compliant but still poses a risk to human health or the environment, reflecting experience under the 2004 Regulation (Article 28). Formal non-compliance findings cover a digital product passport not properly drawn up, missing or incomplete technical documentation, a missing data carrier, or a missing, non-compliant, false or incomplete label, escalating to restriction, prohibition, recall or withdrawal if the defect persists (Article 29).
The Commission's rule-making powers, penalties, and the staged repeal of the 2004 Regulation
The Commission is empowered, for five years from 22 March 2026, tacitly renewable, to adopt delegated acts on the Annexes, on the digital product passport's technical requirements, and on the remaining biodegradability criteria for films and other organic substances. Key deadlines: the micro-organism risk-assessment methodology by 23 September 2028, digital-labelling technical requirements by 1 October 2028, films and polymers biodegradability criteria by 23 March 2029, and other-organic-substances criteria by 23 March 2031. The Committee on Detergents assists the Commission under Regulation (EU) No 182/2011.
Member States must lay down effective, proportionate and dissuasive penalties for infringements and notify the Commission of their rules (Article 33). The Commission must report to the European Parliament and Council on the Regulation's general application by 23 March 2033 (Article 34(1)).
Article 35 repeals Regulation (EC) No 648/2004 with effect from 23 September 2029, the same date the bulk of the new Regulation starts applying; Annex VIII provides an article-by-article correlation table. Article 36 sets a two-stage bridge: stock already in the distribution chain or in storage at that date, compliant with the 2004 Regulation, may continue to be made available indefinitely, while stock not yet in the distribution chain may be placed on the market for a further year, but not made available after 23 September 2030.
Article 2 sets out 40 defined terms. The load-bearing concepts that drive the rest of the Regulation:
Regulation (EC) No 648/2004 versus Regulation (EU) 2026/405, the Regulation that repeals it
| Feature | 2004 Regulation (Reg (EC) No 648/2004) | 2026 Regulation (Reg (EU) 2026/405) |
|---|---|---|
| Legal instrument | A Regulation, already directly applicable across all Member States | Still a Regulation, no change in instrument type, unlike the shift from Directive to Regulation seen for toys |
| Micro-organism detergents | No dedicated regime existed for this product category | Chapter II, Article 5 and Annex II create the EU's first harmonised safety regime |
| Digital product passport | No equivalent existed | Chapter V, Arts 21-25, creates a dedicated digital product passport |
| Labelling | Physical label only | Chapter IV allows a defined scope of content to move to a digital-only label |
| Refill sales | Not addressed | Article 12 sets explicit safety and information rules for refill stations |
| Biodegradability scope | Surfactants only | Extends to detergent-capsule films (2032) and high-concentration organic ingredients (2034) |
| Animal testing | No explicit Regulation-level prohibition | Article 7 bans it outright, with a grandfather clause for pre-2026 data |
| Conformity assessment | Self-declaration, no CE mark | Same Module A self-declaration route retained, still no CE mark |
The 2026 Regulation keeps the underlying protective purpose of the 2004 Regulation and, notably, keeps the same self-declaration conformity route without adding a CE mark. What changes is the information layer: a digital product passport, digital labelling, and harmonised rules for two market developments the 2004 Regulation never anticipated, detergents containing micro-organisms and refill sales.
From the EU's first detergents rules to the Regulation's digital-product-passport siblings
Load-bearing terms as used in Regulation (EU) 2026/405
From the 1973 rules to the 2034 close of the last biodegradability delegated act
Primary sources for Regulation (EU) 2026/405
Full text of Regulation (EU) 2026/405 of 11 February 2026, 8 chapters, 37 articles, Annexes I to VIII:
https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX:32026R0405
CELEX number: 32026R0405 | OJ reference: OJ L, 2026/405, 2.3.2026
The full ordinary legislative procedure history, including committee votes, trilogue milestones and the text at every reading:
https://oeil.secure.europarl.europa.eu/oeil/en/procedure-file?reference=2023/0208(COD)
Procedure reference: 2023/0208(COD).
Six tools to analyse, track, and work with the Regulation and EU detergents legislation