EU Parliament Approves Stricter Workplace Limits for Cobalt, PAHs and 1,4-Dioxane
The European Parliament has approved tougher rules on workers' exposure to dangerous chemicals. The vote, on Tuesday 6 October 2026, was 499 in favour, 49 against and 104 abstentions.
This is the sixth revision of the EU's Carcinogens, Mutagens and Reprotoxic Substances Directive (CMRD). It sets new occupational exposure limits for: • cobalt and inorganic cobalt compounds, widely used in battery production; • polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), associated with steel, iron and aluminium manufacturing; • 1,4-dioxane, used in chemical and textile production.
It also sets a long-term exposure limit for isoprene, used in the chemical and rubber industries. The European Commission must assess whether limits are also needed for substances in welding fumes.
Where exposure cannot be brought below the limits, employers face clearer requirements on personal protective equipment, including respiratory protection, and workers are entitled to regular breaks in areas free from contamination. Training requirements are strengthened, including for hazardous medicinal products handled by healthcare workers.
According to the European Commission, the rules could prevent around 1,700 cases of lung cancer and 19,000 other illnesses over the next 40 years. Member states will have two years from the directive's entry into force to bring it into national law, with longer transition periods for some limit values.
What it means for buyers and suppliers
These limits apply inside EU workplaces, not to imports directly. But Indian exporters of cobalt salts, battery materials, rubber chemicals and products that may contain 1,4-dioxane (such as some ethoxylated surfactants) should expect European customers to ask for tighter impurity data and updated safety data sheets as they prepare to comply.
Source: Indian Chemical News (12 October 2026); vote date and transposition period from EUbusiness (6 October 2026). Photo: the European Parliament's hemicycle in Strasbourg. Diliff, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
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