The European Commission has published the new recommendation on the SSbD framework

The European Commission has published a new recommendation on the European assessment framework for Safe-and-Sustainable-by-Design (SSbD). This is an important milestone that aims at promoting a voluntary decision-making approach to guide innovation towards safer and more sustainable chemicals and materials across their whole life cycles.

Published in the Official Journal of the European Union on 10 March 2026, the Commission Recommendation (EU) 2026/510 External link, opens in new window. outlines useful information about the use of the SSbD framework. It is relevant to Member States, industry actors (including SMEs, startups, scaleups and spin-offs), higher education institutions, organisations managing research and technology infrastructures, and research and technology organisations that contribute to or work on the design, development, production and uptake of chemicals and materials.

Stakeholders are encouraged to use the SSbD Framework in projects and activities related to chemicals and/or materials, with the objective of applying safety and sustainability considerations systematically, and refer to the SSbD Framework in relevant documents, including strategic research and innovation agendas.

This revised Recommendation builds on the 2022 Commission Recommendation and is largely based on the outcomes of two testing phases, during which stakeholder feedback was taken into consideration to improve its relevance, reliability, and operability.

Read more on the Commission’s website External link, opens in new window.