Regulatory Landscape

Navigating the regulatory landscape for new polymeric materials can be complex, with a multitude of definitions and standards that can create ambiguity. This section of the SURPASS digital infrastructure is designed to provide you with a clear and accessible overview of the current policy and regulation landscape to guide your innovation process.

Explore the Regulatory Database

Here you'll find a filterable database of legislation relevant to the Safe-, Sustainable-, and Recyclable-by-Design (SSRbD) development of polymers. This tool compiles the comprehensive analysis performed within the SURPASS project, which identifies and monitors the regulatory landscape.

The database covers:

Standard European Regulations: Core EU-level legislation that impacts all sectors, including REACH (Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals), the CLP (Classification, Labelling and Packaging) Regulation, and the Waste Framework Directive. You can also find information on broader strategies like the European Green Deal and the Chemical Strategy for Sustainability.
Sector-Specific Legislation: Find regulations tailored to the three key industrial sectors addressed in SURPASS: Building , Transport (Railway) , and Packaging.
National Regulations: Discover how EU regulations are applied at the national level. The database includes analyses for France, Germany, Spain, and Hungary.

Use the filters to search by sector, country, or specific regulation to quickly find the information most relevant to your product development.

2004/50/EC

Type	Scope	Status	Revision Date
Directive	European Union	Amended	31.07.2024

DIRECTIVE 2004/50/EC OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL of 29 April 2004 amending Council Directive 96/48/EC on the interoperability of the trans-European high-speed rail system and Directive 2001/16/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council on the interoperability of the trans-European conventional rail system

Type	Scope	Status	Revision Date
Directive	Hungary	Ongoing	24.10.2024

The Hungarian Government Decree 442/2012 (XII. 29.), effective from 1 January 2025, establishes a comprehensive framework for packaging and the management of packaging waste in Hungary, transposing key EU directives such as 94/62/EC and its amendments. It provides detailed definitions of packaging—encompassing primary, secondary, and tertiary types, components, and auxiliary materials—while prohibiting the intentional addition of heavy metals exceeding 0.01% by weight, with limited derogations for recycled glass and plastics. Essential requirements emphasise minimising material quantities for safety and hygiene, promoting reusability through multiple cycles, and ensuring recoverability via recycling, energy recovery, or composting, aligned with harmonised European standards. The decree mandates progressive recycling targets for the national concession company, aiming for at least 65% overall recovery by 2025 (rising to 70% by 2030) and material-specific minima such as 50% for plastics and 75% for paper/cardboard. Distributors with large retail outlets must accept returned packaging free of charge during opening hours, while manufacturers and operators maintain records of reuse cycles and report annually to a public information system overseen by waste authorities; enforcement falls to health, consumer protection, and environmental bodies, with annexes detailing identification systems, calculation methods, and illustrative examples.

Type	Scope	Status	Revision Date
Directive	Hungary	Ongoing	24.10.2024

The Waste Act of 2012 (Act CLXXXV), effective from 1 January 2013 with subsequent amendments up to 2025, establishes a comprehensive framework for waste management in Hungary, aligned with EU directives such as the Waste Framework Directive (2008/98/EC). Its primary aim is to safeguard the environment and public health by preventing waste generation, promoting resource efficiency, and facilitating a transition to a circular economy through the application of the waste hierarchy—prioritising prevention, preparation for reuse, recycling, recovery, and disposal as a last resort. Key provisions include detailed definitions of waste, by-products, and hazardous materials; obligations for producers and waste holders to ensure separate collection, treatment, and extended producer responsibility; regulations on public waste services, nationwide concessions for state tasks, and mandatory deposit-refund systems; rules for specific waste streams like bio-waste and textiles; enforcement mechanisms such as fines, financial securities, and record-keeping; and national planning via the Waste Management Plan and Prevention Programme to meet recycling targets and reduce landfilling.

Type	Scope	Status	Revision Date
Directive	Hungary	Ongoing	24.10.2024

Act LXXXVIII of 2012 on the Market Surveillance of Products, effective from 1 September 2012 with amendments up to 2025, establishes a robust framework for ensuring compliance of products placed on or distributed within the Hungarian market with EU harmonised standards concerning health, safety, consumer protection, and accessibility, in line with regulations such as (EU) 2019/1020 and Directive (EU) 2019/882. Its core objective is to safeguard public interests by mandating that manufacturers, authorised representatives, importers, distributors, and logistic service providers verify product conformity through assessments, technical documentation, CE marking, and Hungarian-language instructions, while prohibiting the distribution of non-compliant or dangerous items and requiring corrective actions like recalls or withdrawals. Key elements include definitions of terms like 'safe product' and 'economic operator'; obligations for ongoing monitoring, complaint investigations, and cooperation with authorities; enforcement via inspections, fines up to 5% of revenue for serious breaches, and immediate interventions for high-risk goods; special provisions for accessibility requirements and import controls; and national coordination through the Central Market Surveillance Information System, annual surveillance programmes, and integration with the EU's RAPEX alert system to facilitate cross-border information exchange and maintain the integrity of the single market.

Type	Scope	Status	Revision Date
Directive	Hungary	Ongoing	24.10.2024

Act LIII of 1995 on the General Rules of Environmental Protection, enacted on 30 May 1995 and effective from 22 December 1995 with amendments up to 2025, forms the cornerstone of Hungary's environmental regulatory framework, aligned with EU directives such as those on environmental impact assessment (2011/92/EU) and liability (2004/35/EC). Its primary objective is to safeguard the environment as a unified system—encompassing air, water, soil, biodiversity, and built landscapes—through principles of sustainable development, precaution, prevention, and the polluter-pays doctrine, while promoting public health, resource efficiency, and integration of environmental considerations into economic and social policies. Key provisions span 10 chapters, covering general definitions and obligations for environmental users; protection of specific elements with emission limits and best available techniques; national and local planning via the National Environmental Protection Programme; unified permitting and environmental impact assessments for high-risk activities; public participation and access to information; strict liability regimes with restoration mandates, financial securities, and fines up to significant percentages of revenue; and enforcement by authorities including inspections, suspensions, and a public registry of serious breaches, all underpinned by transitional rules and ministerial decrees for detailed implementation.

Type	Scope	Status	Revision Date
Regulation	European Union		23.10.2025

In 2020, The European Commission adopted the Chemicals Strategy for Sustainability. This strategy is in the context of the broader European Green Deal. Its main objective is to better protect citizens and the environment from harmful chemicals, and boost innovation by promoting the use of safer and more sustainable chemicals.

Chemicals are the building blocks of the goods we use, and for new materials needed for a circular and climate neutral economy, the CSS fits particularly into the point of the EU’s zero pollution ambition. Moreover, chemicals production is also an energy and CO2-intense industrial sector.

Shifting towards chemicals and production technologies that require less energy will limit emissions.

Parallelly, the European Chemical Agency (ECHA) contributes to the strategy with its scientific and expertise and databases.

Type	Scope	Status	Revision Date
Directive	European Union	Ongoing	24.10.2024

The Chemicals Strategy for Sustainability: Towards a Toxic-Free Environment, a Communication from the European Commission adopted on 14 October 2020 (COM(2020) 667 final), sets out a comprehensive long-term vision for EU chemicals policy in alignment with the European Green Deal, aiming to protect human health, the environment, and future generations by fostering innovation in safe and sustainable chemicals while minimising risks from hazardous substances throughout their lifecycle. It addresses pressing challenges such as endocrine disruptors, PFAS 'forever chemicals', and combination effects of mixtures through a 'toxic-free hierarchy' prioritising prevention and substitution, alongside principles like 'one substance, one assessment' and 'no data, no market' to streamline regulations under REACH and CLP. Key actions include developing safe-and-sustainable-by-design criteria by 2022, imposing automatic restrictions on carcinogens and other substances of concern in consumer products from 2022, enhancing worker and vulnerable group protections, building a robust evidence base via biomonitoring and non-animal testing, and bolstering global leadership through international cooperation and export bans on prohibited chemicals. Integrated with strategies on circular economy, zero pollution, and industrial competitiveness, the plan—detailed in an annexed Action Plan with timelines to 2024—seeks to reconcile chemical innovation with planetary health, urging endorsement from EU institutions and stakeholder engagement to drive a resilient, non-toxic material cycle.

Type	Scope	Status	Revision Date
Directive	European Union	Ongoing	24.10.2024

The Communication from the Commission on making sustainable products the norm (COM(2022) 140 final), adopted on 30 March 2022, outlines a comprehensive legislative package to drive the EU's transition to a circular, climate-neutral, and resource-efficient economy by redesigning products to minimise environmental impacts across their full lifecycle, addressing vulnerabilities exposed by crises like COVID-19 and geopolitical tensions. Aligned with the European Green Deal, it proposes the Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation (ESPR) to extend existing ecodesign rules to nearly all physical goods, mandating requirements for durability, reparability, recycled content, energy efficiency, and waste prevention, complemented by digital product passports for transparency and bans on destroying unsold consumer goods. Key actions include a 2022-2024 Ecodesign Working Plan prioritising electronics and appliances; sectoral strategies for sustainable textiles and revised construction products regulations; consumer protections against greenwashing and planned obsolescence via extended guarantees and repair rights; and support mechanisms like the European Circular Business Hub and green public procurement criteria, all aimed at doubling circular material use by 2030, fostering innovation, job creation, and global sustainability leadership through stakeholder co-creation, impact assessments, and integration with zero-pollution, digital, and industrial strategies.

Type	Scope	Status	Revision Date
Directive	Germany	Ongoing	24.10.2024

The BauPG (Construction Products Act 2013), enacted on 5 December 2012 and entering into force on 1 July 2013 with amendments up to 2021, serves as Germany's national implementation of EU Regulation (EU) No 305/2011, establishing harmonised conditions for the marketing of construction products to ensure their safety, performance, and environmental compatibility within the single market while repealing the prior Construction Products Directive 89/106/EEC. Its scope encompasses all economic operators—manufacturers, importers, and distributors—placing products on the market, mandating obligations such as drawing up performance declarations, affixing CE markings, maintaining technical documentation for at least ten years, ensuring series production consistency, providing German-language instructions and safety information, and cooperating with authorities on risk notifications and corrective actions like recalls. Key provisions designate the Deutsche Institut für Bautechnik (DIB) as the national technical assessment body under federal oversight for issuing European Technical Assessments and notifying conformity assessment bodies to the European Commission, while empowering ordinances for non-harmonised products and enforcing compliance through administrative fines up to €50,000 for serious breaches endangering health or property, alongside criminal penalties for intentional recidivism; market surveillance is bolstered by accreditation via DAkkS and alignment with EU-wide mechanisms under Regulation (EC) No 765/2008, promoting free movement of safe construction goods.

Type	Scope	Status	Revision Date
Directive	Hungary	Ongoing	24.10.2024

Decree No. 15/2003 (XI. 7.) of the Ministry of Environment and Water on Regional Waste Management Plans, enacted on 7 November 2003 and entering into force three days after its promulgation with subsequent updates referenced to 1 January 2009, implements Section 34(5) of Hungary's 2000 Waste Management Act by mandating the development of waste management strategies for the country's seven statistical regions, covering the period 2003–2008 based on 2001 baseline data. Its core objective is to promote sustainable waste handling in line with EU directives on the waste framework, landfilling, hazardous waste, end-of-life vehicles, and packaging recycling, emphasising prevention, maximisation of material and energy recovery, environmentally sound disposal of residuals, and drastic reductions in landfilling—such as cutting biodegradable municipal waste to 75% of 1995 levels by 2004 and 50% by 2007—while addressing specific streams like municipal, industrial, hazardous, construction, and agricultural wastes through detailed regional appendices outlining waste generation (e.g., 5.88 million tonnes annually of non-hazardous waste in the Western Transdanubian region), treatment capacities, and targets like 30% hazardous waste recovery by 2008 and 85% vehicle reuse. Key provisions detail obligations for producers to adopt low-waste technologies and recycling schemes, municipalities to expand selective collection to 60% population coverage by 2008 and composting facilities, operators to secure permits and report data, and authorities to enforce via inspections, permit revocations, and phased closures of non-compliant dumps by 2005–2009; action programmes include education, economic incentives like deposit-refund systems, and investments totalling 38–49 billion forints, all aimed at pollution control, remediation of stockpiles such as red mud, and alignment with national environmental goals.

Type	Scope	Status	Revision Date
Directive	Hungary	Ongoing	24.10.2024

Decree No. 26/2014 (III. 25.) of the Ministry of Agriculture on the Limitation of Emissions of Volatile Organic Compounds from Certain Activities, enacted on 25 March 2014 and entering into force on 2 April 2014 (with phased implementations up to June 2015 and amendments through October 2024), transposes EU directives including 1999/13/EC on VOC emissions and 2010/75/EU on industrial emissions into Hungarian law, aiming to curb volatile organic compound releases from solvent-intensive operations such as printing, surface cleaning, vehicle coating, and adhesive application to safeguard air quality, human health, and the environment via emission thresholds, best available techniques, and hazardous substance substitution. Key provisions define VOCs as organic compounds with vapour pressure ≥0.01 kPa at 293.15 K, mandate operators of facilities exceeding Annex 1 activity thresholds to achieve point-source limits (e.g., 20–150 mg C/Nm³), diffuse emissions (1–25% of input), or total VOC caps, prepare annual solvent balances for reporting by 31 March, and monitor emissions continuously or periodically per thresholds; authorities may grant up to five-year exemptions for technically or economically unfeasible compliance if air standards are met, while prohibiting carcinogenic/mutagenic/reprotoxic solvents (e.g., H340/H350 phrases) unless substitutable alternatives are unavailable, with records kept for a decade and public registers maintained. The decree's ten sections cover scope, definitions, general rules, limits/exemptions, special hazardous rules, monitoring, changes, records, and closing provisions, supported by nine annexes on activities, thresholds, vehicle limits, and calculations; enforcement relies on inspections and permit revisions under broader environmental laws, with transitional measures allowing retention of prior permits, phased reduction plans until 2017, and delayed 2024 carcinogen rules to 2027/2028 for existing facilities.

Type	Scope	Status	Revision Date
Directive	France	Ongoing	24.10.2024

Decree No. 2011-321 of 23 March 2011 on the labelling of construction products or wall or floor coverings and paints and varnishes regarding their emissions of volatile pollutants, published in the Official Journal on 25 March 2011 and entering into force on 1 January 2012 (with application to pre-2012 stock deferred to 1 September 2013), amends France's Environmental Code to enhance indoor air quality by mandating clear labelling of volatile organic compound (VOC) emissions for products intended for interior use, such as floorings, wall or ceiling coverings, partitions, insulation, doors, windows, and installation aids, while exempting untreated glass or metal items and hardware like locks. Drawing on WHO-identified pollutants prioritised for inhalation toxicity and prevalence in buildings, it requires manufacturers, importers, or distributors to affix comprehensible French-language labels (potentially multilingual) on products or packaging, declaring emission classes and levels post-installation, with an implementing ministerial order detailing label formats, pollutant lists, and thresholds; responsible parties must maintain justifying documentation for inspections, and non-compliance incurs fines up to the fifth class under the Penal Code, ensuring alignment with EU information procedures while facilitating equivalent labelling for intra-EU/EEA imports to promote consumer awareness and safer building materials.

Regulatory Landscape

Explore the Regulatory Database

2004/50/EC

442/2012 (XII. 29) Government Decree

Act CLXXXV of 2012

Act LXXXVIII of 2012

Act n° LIII of 1995

Chemical Sustainability Strategy (CSS)

COM (2020) 667 Final

COM(2022) 140 Final

Construction Products Act - BauPG

Decree 15/2003. (XI. 7.) KvVM

Decree 26/2014. (III. 25.) VM

Decree n° 2011-321