#REACH, #SME, #Fees
The Commission published a regulation increasing the fees in REACH for large companies and changed the way the SME status is verified. From now on, 2 months before applying for registration of a substance, the SME status must be confirmed and is valid for only 3 years.
On 16 October, the European Commission published COMMISSION IMPLEMENTING REGULATION (EU) 2025/2067 of 15 October 2025 amending Regulation (EC) No 340/2008 on fees and charges payable to the European Chemicals Agency under REACH.
The content of the regulation introduces two changes:
- Fees for registering substances under REACH
As part of the announced increase to equalise the inflation rate from 2021, fees paid to ECHA will increase by 19.5%. Micro, small and medium-sized enterprises that meet the criteria of SMEs will be exempt from the above fee increase.
- Verification of SME status
The European Chemicals Agency is changing the way the status of a company’s size is verified. Companies that declare their company size as an SME must now apply for SME status with ECHA to benefit from lower registration fees before start to register their substance in REACH.
Two months before submitting their registration documents to ECHA, companies must confirm the size of their company using an official document. Once they have applied for SME status, the European Chemicals Agency will issue a formal decision with a validity period of 3 years. If an application for SME status is rejected, ECHA may charge an administrative fee for processing the application.
The changes come into force on February 5, 2027, so entrepreneurs have 15 months to prepare for the changes.
What does it mean?
Before applying for registration of a substance in REACH, you must apply for SME status 2 months before submitting the documents, which may affect the total time of the registration process for the substance. In addition, after 3 years, you must apply for the renewal of the company’s status as an SME.
Source: https://eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/reg_impl/2025/2067/oj/eng
Ekotox Website: https://ekotox.eu/reach-regulation/