Regulation (EU) 2026/2382 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 21 October 2026 amending Regulations (EC) No 1907/2006, (EC) No 1272/2008, (EU) No 528/2012, (EU) 2019/1021 and (EU) 2021/697 as regards defence readiness and facilitating defence investments and conditions for defence industry
In force
Version historyWe hold this version only; in force from 2026-10-21.
Data as of 2026-11-04 · Compiled from an official source version. Later amendments or repeals may not be reflected; the official text prevails. · Read the official text ↗
Amendment to Regulation (EC) No 1907/2006
In Article 2 of Regulation (EC) No 1907/2006, paragraph 3 is replaced by the following: ‘3. Member States may allow for exemptions from this Regulation for substances, on their own, in a mixture or in an article, where necessary in the interests of defence.’.
Amendment to Regulation (EC) No 1272/2008
In Article 1 of Regulation (EC) No 1272/2008, paragraph 4 is replaced by the following: ‘4. Member States may allow for exemptions from this Regulation for substances and mixtures, as well as articles referred to in section 2.1 of Annex I, where necessary in the interests of defence.’.
Amendment to Regulation (EU) No 528/2012
In Article 2 of Regulation (EU) No 528/2012, paragraph 8 is replaced by the following: ‘8. Member States may allow for exemptions from this Regulation for biocidal products, on their own or in a treated article, where necessary in the interests of defence.’.
Amendments to Regulation (EU) 2019/1021
Regulation (EU) 2019/1021 is amended as follows: (1) in Article 2, the following point is added: ‘(14) “defence readiness” means the state of preparedness of a Member State or several Member States to respond to a crisis as defined in Article 1, point (10), of Directive 2009/81/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council ( *1 ) , which relates to defence. ( *1 ) Directive 2009/81/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 13 July 2009 on the coordination of procedures for the award of certain works contracts, supply contracts and service contracts by contracting authorities or entities in the fields of defence and security, and amending Directives 2004/17/EC and 2004/18/EC ( OJ L 216, 20.8.2009, p. 76 , ELI: http://data.europa.eu/eli/dir/2009/81/oj ).’;" (2) in Article 3, the following paragraph is inserted: ‘4a. When collecting, assessing and submitting information related to socio-economic considerations pursuant to Annex F to the Convention for the purpose of the risk management evaluation referred to in Article 8(7) and (8) of the Convention, the Commission and Member States shall duly take into account defence readiness and specificities of the defence sector, including impact on defence production supply chains.’ ; (3) in Article 13(1), the following subparagraph is added: ‘Where necessary, Member States may make exemptions from this article on grounds of protection of Union or national defence interests for the purpose of protecting sensitive information provided that such exemptions do not undermine the Union’s or Member States’ compliance, where relevant, with their reporting obligations under the Convention.’.
Amendments to Regulation (EU) 2021/697
Regulation (EU) 2021/697 is amended as follows: (1) Article 2 is amended as follows: (a) the following point is inserted: ‘(6a) “cross-border SMEs” means SMEs which are established in Member States or associated countries other than those in which recipients that are not SMEs are established and which participate in the activity as recipients, subcontractors or other legal entities in the supply chain;’ ; (b) point (17) is replaced by the following: ‘(17) “pre-commercial procurement” means the procurement of research and development services involving risk-benefit sharing under market conditions where there is a clear separation of the research and development services procured from the deployment of commercial volumes of end-products;’ ; (c) the following point is inserted: ‘(18a) “ ex aequo proposals” means two or more proposals that have obtained the same evaluation score following a call for proposals;’ ; (2) in Article 4, the following paragraph is added: ‘6. The budgetary commitments relating to the Fund which cover activities extending over more than one financial year may be broken down over several years into annual instalments.’ ; (3) Article 6 is replaced by the following: ‘Article 6 Support for disruptive technologies for defence and research and development actions carried out by SMEs 1. The Fund shall support actions that are conducive to developing disruptive technologies for defence and research and development actions carried out by SMEs in the areas of intervention defined in the work programmes referred to in Article 24. 2. The work programmes shall lay down the most appropriate forms of funding, selection and award criteria and procedures and of implementation for disruptive technologies for defence and research and development actions carried out by SMEs.’ ; (4) in Article 8, paragraph 2 is replaced by the following: ‘2. By way of derogation from paragraph 1 of this Article, specific actions may, in substantiated cases, be carried out under indirect management by bodies as referred to in Article 62(1), point (c), of Regulation (EU, Euratom) 2024/2509 of the European Parliament and of the Council ( *2 ) , under the conditions set out in the work programme. ( *2 ) Regulation (EU, Euratom) 2024/2509 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 September 2024 on the financial rules applicable to the general budget of the Union ( OJ L, 2024/2509, 26.9.2024, ELI: http://data.europa.eu/eli/reg/2024/2509/oj ).’;" (5) in Article 9(6), the third subparagraph is replaced by the following: ‘The costs related to those activities shall not be eligible for support from the Fund. However, if the recipients and subcontractors involved in the action cooperate with legal entities established in Ukraine, controlled by Ukraine, or controlled by a Ukrainian entity, for the sole purpose of using their infrastructure, facilities, assets and resources for testing activities referred to in Article 10(3), point (f), the related costs shall be eligible for support from the Fund provided that those costs benefit the funded action and are necessary for strengthening the competitiveness, efficiency and innovation capacity of the EDTIB throughout the Union, as laid down in Article 3.’ ; (6) in Article 11(1), the second subparagraph is replaced by the following: ‘In certain duly substantiated and exceptional circumstances, Union funding may also be granted without a call for proposals in accordance with Article 198 of Regulation (EU, Euratom) 2024/2509, including in cases provided for in the first paragraph, point (e), of that Article.’ ; (7) Article 12 is replaced by the following: ‘Article 12 Award criteria 1. In accordance with Article 203 of Regulation (EU, Euratom) 2024/2509, each proposal shall be assessed on the basis of the following criteria: (a) its contribution to excellence in the defence domain, in particular by showing that the expected results of the proposed action present significant advantages over existing defence products or technologies; (b) its quality and efficiency of the implementation of the action. 2. In addition to the criteria referred to in paragraph 1, each proposal shall be assessed on the basis of one or more of the following criteria, as set out in the work programme, on a call-by-call basis: (a) its contribution to the innovation or potential of disruption of the European defence industry, in particular by showing that the proposed action includes ground-breaking or novel concepts and approaches not previously applied in the defence sector; (b) its contribution to the competitiveness of the EDTIB by creating new market opportunities across the Union and beyond and accelerating the growth of companies throughout the Union; (c) its contribution to reducing dependency on non-Union sources and strengthening security of supply of defence products throughout the Union; (d) its contribution to cross-border cooperation between legal entities established in Member States or associated countries, in particular with SMEs and mid-caps that bring substantial added-value to the action, as recipients, as subcontractors involved in the action or as other legal entities in the supply chain; (e) its contribution to increasing efficiency across the life cycle of defence products and technologies, including cost-effectiveness and the potential for synergies in the procurement, maintenance and disposal processes; (f) its contribution to the further integration of the European defence industry throughout the Union, in particular regarding joint use, ownership or maintenance of the final product or technology; (g) its contribution to addressing the needs of the Member States and the associated countries with the highest exposure to the risk of materialisation of conventional military threats. 3. The work programme shall lay down details concerning the selection procedures, and the application of the award criteria listed in paragraph 2, including any weighting of the criteria, scoring thresholds and, where relevant, rules for dealing with ex aequo proposals, taking into consideration the objectives of the call for proposals.’ ; (8) Article 13 is amended as follows: (a) paragraph 2 is replaced by the following: ‘2. By way of derogation from paragraph 1 of this Article, support from the Fund shall not exceed 20 % of the eligible costs for activities referred to in Article 10(3), point (e), without prejudice to higher funding rates which may apply in accordance with paragraph 3 of this Article.’ ; (b) in paragraph 3, points (a) and (b) are replaced by the following: ‘(a) an action developed in the context of a project of PESCO, as established by Council Decision (CFSP) 2017/2315 ( *3 ) , or in the context of a Structure for European Armament Programme (SEAP), as established by Regulation (EU) 2025/2643 of the European Parliament and of the Council ( *4 ) , may benefit from a funding rate increased by an additional 10 percentage points; (b) an activity may benefit from an increased funding rate, as referred to in this point, where at least 10 % of the total eligible costs of the activity are allocated to SMEs established in Member States or in associated countries and which participate in the activity as recipients, subcontractors or other legal entities in the supply chain. The funding rate may be increased by percentage points equivalent to the percentage of the total eligible costs of the activity allocated to SMEs established in Member States or in associated countries in which recipients that are not SMEs or mid-caps are established and which participate in the activity as recipients, subcontractors or other legal entities in the supply chain, up to an additional 10 percentage points. The funding rate may be increased by percentage points equivalent to twice the percentage of the total eligible costs of the activity allocated to cross-border SMEs. ( *3 ) Council Decision (CFSP) 2017/2315 of 11 December 2017 establishing permanent structured cooperation (PESCO) and determining the list of participating Member States ( OJ L 331, 14.12.2017, p. 57 , ELI: http://data.europa.eu/eli/dec/2017/2315/oj )." ( *4 ) Regulation (EU) 2025/2643 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 16 December 2025 establishing the European Defence Industry Programme and a framework of measures to ensure the timely availability and supply of defence products (“EDIP Regulation”) ( OJ L, 2025/2643, 29.12.2025, ELI: http://data.europa.eu/eli/reg/2025/2643/oj ).’;" (9) in Article 14, paragraph 1 is replaced by the following: ‘1. Notwithstanding Article 201 of Regulation (EU, Euratom) 2024/2509, only the financial capacity of a coordinator shall be verified.’ ; (10) in Article 17(2), point (b) is replaced by the following: ‘(b) may authorise, in specific cases, the award of multiple contracts within the same procedure (multiple sourcing);’ ; (11) Article 22 is deleted; (12) Article 23 is amended as follows: (a) paragraphs 3 and 4 are replaced by the following: ‘3. This Regulation shall not affect the Member States’ discretion as regards their policy on the transfer and export of defence-related products. As regards transfers, Member States shall endeavour to use all tools at their disposal, such as general transfer licences, as referred to in Article 5 of Directive 2009/43/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council ( *5 ) , and avoid disproportionate administrative requirements to ensure the smooth implementation of the actions. 4. With regard to results generated by recipients through development actions supported by the Fund, and without prejudice to paragraph 3 of this Article, the Commission shall be notified prior to any transfer of ownership to a non-associated third country or to a non-associated third-country entity, which takes place within three years of the final payment of the action. If such a transfer of ownership contravenes the security and defence interests of the Union and its Member States or the objectives set out in Article 3, the support provided from the Fund shall be reimbursed. ( *5 ) Directive 2009/43/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 6 May 2009 simplifying terms and conditions of transfers of defence-related products within the Community ( OJ L 146, 10.6.2009, p. 1 , ELI: http://data.europa.eu/eli/dir/2009/43/oj ).’;" (b) the following paragraph is added: ‘6. For the purpose of assessing the results of the development actions and assessing their potential use for public defence planning and capability development, the national authorities co-financing an action and the recipients generating the results shall engage in negotiations, with a view to the recipients granting access rights to those results to the national authorities under fair and reasonable conditions to be agreed upon with the recipients generating those results. Access rights shall not entail any transfer of ownership of IPRs or know-how contained therein, and shall be limited to non-commercial and non-competitive use. Those access rights shall not include background intellectual property except where strictly necessary for the purpose of understanding the results of the action and shall require the prior consent of the owners of such background intellectual property. Terms and conditions for the exercise of such access rights shall be defined in the contractual relationship between the recipients and the national authorities co-financing the action.’ ; (13) in Article 24, paragraph 1 is replaced by the following: ‘1. The Fund shall be implemented by means of annual or multiannual work programmes as referred to in Article 110(2) of Regulation (EU, Euratom) 2024/2509. Work programmes shall set out, where applicable, the overall amount reserved for blending operations.’.
Entry into force and application
This Regulation shall enter into force on the twentieth day following that of its publication in the Official Journal of the European Union . Article 9(6), third subparagraph, of the Regulation (EU) 2021/697, as amended by this Regulation, shall apply from 1 January 2025.
Source: EUR-Lex (Publications Office of the EU), © European Union, reuse permitted under Commission Decision 2011/833/EU.