ECHA RAC Finds No Change Needed to Glyphosate Carcinogenicity Classification

The ECHA glyphosate update says the study does not change RAC's 2022 hazard assessment. This means that glyphosate's current harmonised classification remains in place. The substance is classified as causing serious eye damage, category 1, with hazard statement H318, and as hazardous to the aquatic environment, chronic category 2, with hazard statement H411. It is not harmonised as carcinogenic, mutagenic or toxic for reproduction.

Glyphosate Carcinogenicity Classification Remains Unchanged

The European Commission asked ECHA to review RAC's 30 May 2022 opinion after researchers published the Global Glyphosate Study in June 2025. Foresight reported the EU review request in July 2025. The review covered carcinogenicity only. RAC evaluates a substance's intrinsic hazards under the Classification, Labelling and Packaging Regulation. It does not assess the exposure risks of specific product uses.

ECHA opened a targeted consultation from 2 to 31 March 2026. RAC considered the comments with the study data and its preliminary discussion from June 2026 before adopting the new opinion.

The result does not create a new classification, threshold, exemption or transition period. Suppliers must continue to apply the existing harmonised classification and separately classify glyphosate mixtures under CLP. The opinion also does not remove current safety controls for workers, users or the environment.

ECHA has not yet published the full opinion text. The agency says it will make the opinion available within a few months and send it to the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) and the European Commission. Compliance teams should retain the 8 September announcement as the current evidence and review the full opinion when it is released.

EU Approval And Product Authorisations Continue Separately

RAC's conclusion is a scientific opinion on hazard classification. It does not renew, extend or cancel glyphosate's approval as an active substance in plant protection products. The 2023 EU renewal approved glyphosate until 15 December 2033, subject to its existing conditions under Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2023/2660.

Only herbicide uses may be authorised. EU Member States decide whether to authorise individual plant protection products and can apply product-specific controls. The regulation sets a minimum technical purity of 950 grams per kilogram and limits for specified impurities, including N-nitroso-glyphosate, formaldehyde, triethylamine, formic acid and glyphosine.

The regulation also sets maximum annual application rates unless a product-specific risk assessment supports a higher rate. These are 1.44 kilograms per hectare for agricultural uses, 1.8 kilograms per hectare for control of invasive species and 3.6 kilograms per hectare for non-agricultural uses.

For professional agricultural spraying, national authorisations normally require a non-sprayed buffer strip of five to ten metres and spray-drift reduction of at least 75%, subject to the product-specific risk assessment. Uses as a desiccant to control harvest timing or optimise threshing must not be authorised.

These controls remain relevant to manufacturers, formulators, importers, distributors, retailers, growers, contractors and professional users. Separate EFSA risk assessment, Commission risk management, national product reviews and the pending court challenge to the 2023 approval continue outside the RAC classification process.

What Businesses Should Do Now

Businesses should keep current classifications, labels, safety data sheets, authorisation conditions and use controls in place. They should not treat the RAC opinion as a new product authorisation or as permission for a use that a Member State has not authorised.

Regulatory teams should record the adopted opinion in their monitoring systems and check the final text when ECHA publishes it. Product owners should confirm that national authorisations still match current uses, application rates, drift controls and pre-harvest restrictions. Mixture suppliers should also confirm that their own CLP calculations and labels remain accurate.

Summary

RAC has found that the 2025 Global Glyphosate Study does not change its conclusion that glyphosate does not warrant carcinogenicity classification. Existing EU hazard classifications, active-substance approval and national product controls remain unchanged. The next evidence point is ECHA's publication of the full opinion, followed by the separate EFSA and Commission processes.