What is the Detergents Regulation?
Since 2005, Regulation (EC) No 648/2004 on detergents has established common rules to enable detergents and surfactants to be sold and used across the EU, while providing a high degree of protection to the environment and human health. It also defined surfactants as any organic substance and/or mixture used in detergents meeting certain defined criteria and consolidated the existing community legislation on biodegradability and labelling of detergents by bringing together five Directives under a single regulation. In March of 2026, this regulation was replaced by the new Regulation (EU) 2026/405 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 February 2026 on detergents and surfactants, and repealing Regulation (EC) No 648/2004. Its provisions will, however, apply only from 23 September 2029, when the new obligations will then become mandatory for companies, market actors, and national authorities.
Whilst the new regulation does include several changes, many of the main objectives and its relevance for surfactants as B2B ingredients remain the same. For example, this new Regulation continues to harmonise the following rules for placing detergents and surfactants for detergents on the EU market, albeit some details have been adjusted:
- the biodegradability of surfactants in detergents
- the additional labelling of detergents or other specified ingredients where necessary (now expanded to also include rules for “end-user surfactants”) and other information requirements that manufacturers must provide when selling (B2B) surfactants
- the information that manufacturers must hold at the disposal of national authorities and medical personnel
- limitations on the content of phosphates and other phosphorus compounds in consumer laundry detergents and consumer automatic dishwasher detergents.
The regulation now also intoduces a prohibition of animal testing of detergent and ingredients for the purpose of meeting the requirement of the detergent regulation .
How does the Detergents Regulation impact the surfactant industry?
Detergents Regulation (EU) 2026/405:
- Continues to require that surfactants used in detergents must achieve ultimate aerobic biodegradation.
- Introduces a more limited series of tests for determining the ultimate biodegradability of all surfactants unless used as disinfectants under specific conditions.
- Introduces additional labelling or information requirements for B2B and B2C surfactants.
- Includes an updated surfactant definition which, although incrementally refined, still requires further clarification in certain aspects (e.g. criteria that remain difficult to interpret or consistently measure, including the concentration context associated with the <45 mN/m surface tension threshold).
Those detergents containing surfactants that do not fulfil the requirements will not be permitted on the EU market.
Thus, the Regulation (EU) 2026/405 continues to provide rules for (i) placing detergents on the market, (ii) information to be provided by manufacturers, (iii) labelling on the packaging of detergents for consumers, and (iv) provides test methods to be used to assess the biodegradability of surfactants used in detergents.
What is CESIO’s role in Detergents Regulation?
As the main stakeholder representing the interests of the EU surfactants industry, CESIO along with AISE/ECOSOL/FECC previously developed agreed guidelines on the transmission of information for surfactant biodegradability as indicated in Article 9 of Regulation (EC) No 648/2004.
CESIO also developed guidelines on standardised declarations on biodegradability for the use of safety data sheets (SDS) to enable surfactant manufacturers to fulfil their responsibilities under Article 9 of Regulation (EC) No 648/2004.
These guidelines were endorsed by the Commission and can be found under the following section: https://ec.europa.eu/growth/sectors/chemicals/legislation_en . The guidelines may likely be reviewed and updated pending future needs and clarifications which are expected to be provided by the European Commission in an updated FAQ, which is currently still in preparation.
For more information on surfactants in detergents, please see: