Regulatory Review – October 2026
This digest provides an overview of some of the latest regulatory announcements of interest to the SETAC community. Please send your suggestions to [email protected].
In alphabetical order
Australia
The Head of the Australian Antarctic Division, as delegate for the Director of National Parks, is inviting feedback on the draft Heard Island and McDonald Islands (HIMI) Marine Reserve management plan. HIMI is Australia’s most remote Commonwealth marine reserve. Consultation is open till Wednesday 28 October.
In New South Wales, the Landfill and Sewage Treatment Plant PFAS Monitoring Chemical Control Order took effect on 1 October. It requires licensed landfills and sewage treatment plants to monitor for per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) and report results to the New South Wales Environment Protection Authority. The monitoring data will help inform future regulatory decisions.
Canada
Mikisew Cree First Nation, Athabasca Chipewyan Déné First Nation and Fort Chipewyan Métis Nation are raising serious concerns about oversight of oil sands. The nations are concerned about the level of assessment related to how Alberta manages oil sands process-affected water and the proposed treat and release into the Athabasca Watershed.
Environment and Climate Change Canada and Health Canada have opened a consultation on criteria to define substances as carcinogenic, mutagenic or toxic to reproduction under the Canadian Environmental Protection Act, 1999. The feedback will inform the development of proposed regulations. Comments are due by 2 December.
Europe
The European Commission (EC) has proposed a common rating scheme for data centers aimed at increasing transparency on their energy use and supporting their sustainable integration into Europe’s energy system.
The European Chemicals Agency’s (ECHA) Committee for Risk Assessment (RAC) recommends classifying Trifluoroacetic acid (TFA), as well as its inorganic salts, as substances which are toxic to reproduction, persistent, mobile, and toxic and very persistent and very mobile causing long-lasting contamination of water resources.
European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) concludes the salt of aspartame-acesulfame (E 962) is safe at current exposure levels. Salt of aspartame-acesulfame is a sweetener authorized for use in a variety of sugar-free and energy-reduced foods and beverages. Once ingested, it dissociates into its individual components aspartame and acesulfame.
United States
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) and U.S. Health and Human Services (HHS) announced a new scientific partnership to strengthen glyphosate review and expand the evidence available to USEPA’s ongoing registration review of glyphosate under the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA).
The U.S. National Institutes of Health has launched Linked Discoveries, an experimental tool that helps researchers explore publications related to PubMed articles, including replication studies. The tool provides context for evaluating the evidence but does not assess study quality or determine whether a finding has been replicated.
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