Enabling critical capabilities for high-risk industries when it comes to chemical compliance 

In the face of mounting evidence that certain substances of concern negatively impact human and environmental health, companies in a variety of industries are faced with a growing number of chemical regulations, restricted usage rules, and strict reporting and labeling requirements for the substances that comprise their products.

Navigating Complex Chemical Regulations in High-Risk Industries

Some industries are impacted more than others due to the chemical formulation of their products and the storage and use of hazardous substances in their operating facilities. In the 2025 Product Compliance Software report, independent research firm, Verdantix, enumerates some “very high risk” and “high risk” industries. These include chemicals, mining, oil & gas, construction, forestry & logging, pulp and paper, and electronic power grid.¹

These and other industries grapple with a seemingly insurmountable number of regulatory requirements, all of which have different reporting requirements, chemicals of concern, and phase-out provisions. Managing this onslaught of regulations manually with research, data consolidation, and reporting can become untenable very quickly. As a result, enterprises are deploying technology solutions with critical capabilities to streamline, automate, and simplify regulatory research and chemical compliance.

How Technology is Revolutionizing Chemical Compliance Management

According to the 2025 Verdantix Green Quadrant: Product Compliance Software report, the top product compliance software solutions “address direct EHS and chemical hazard needs, while supporting supply chain optimization.”² This statement aligns with 3E's own research of customer concerns and challenges when it comes to chemical regulatory compliance solutions. Primary market research conducted by 3E found that:

• 92% indicate regulatory monitoring is needed in their business³

• 42% say it's time consuming and complicated to analyze their product catalog for compliance⁴

• 35% complain of an inability to evaluate new materials for compliance/ sustainability objectives in a timely manner⁵

These findings convey a sense that businesses desire to stay current on the latest regulatory updates and then evaluate how changing regulations impact their businesses based on chemicals of concern used in their products. Of course, to understand which chemicals of concern are used, companies must be able to collect accurate and complete information about chemicals used in components from their supply chain-another challenge in the global regulatory compliance process. “Meanwhile, operations around product compliance are increasingly converging, expanding the duties of EHSQ professionals and requiring deeper linkages with sustainability and supply chain teams,” according to the Verdantix report.⁶

Additional research conducted by 3E on supply chain challenges found that:

• 44% say their suppliers do not respond to their requests for information⁷

• 51% say their suppliers provide poor quality responses⁸

It's evident that product compliance solutions are increasingly critical to safety and compliance teams as they navigate complex compliance requirements of large product lines and intricate supply chains.

Industries most profoundly impacted by chemical compliance 

Due to the type of business they operate, chemicals are used extensively by chemical products, pharmaceutical, and water treatment companies. The use of substances of concern leaves these companies vulnerable to significant damages if chemicals are mishandled or misreported. Here are some examples of how these companies are proactively leveraging chemical compliance software to ensure the safety and suitability of their products.

Chemical compliance as a competitive advantage and differentiator

Corporate Product Stewardship and Regulatory Compliance Director at DuPont, Barbara Nyland, says 3E is helping their organization make compliance a strategic part of their everyday business decisions.

DuPont is strategically leveraging chemical compliance, safety, and sustainability data to gain a competitive edge and drive their business forward. With the help of 3E's world-class regulatory and chemical data solutions, DuPont utilizes critical chemical compliance and safety data across each stage of the product lifecycle. The result is an elevated ability to rapidly access data for the purposes of engineering innovative products, reaching new markets, enhancing transparency, deriving competitive advantage, and achieving greater safety for employees and customers.

Chemical compliance software scales product stewardship teams

Anders Ehlers of Merck looks toward the future of product stewardship in compliance. Merck relies on 3E ERC+ to help them streamline and expedite creation and management of SDS across their expanding product portfolio. They also leverage the tool to provide marketability assessments and impromptu product content queries.

“We're producing 300 times more safety data sheets in 2024 than we did in 2000. Yet, the team that handles SDS has only doubled in that same amount of time. The ability to handle the exponential increase in volume is only possible thanks to the rule sets and regulatory content from 3E ERC+.”

As the product portfolio at Merck continues to expand globally, 3E ERC+ helps them make large volumes of regulations manageable without doubling their product stewardship team.

Novalis uses digital product passports to drive sustainability and supply chain transparency

Novalis® Innovative Flooring is a multi-national Luxury Vinyl Tile (LVT) flooring company with locations spanning multiple regions, from North America to Asia. Stakeholders from architects to designers of the flooring, engineers who build the flooring, construction companies, and installers who work with the flooring and ultimately end-user consumers need to know what chemicals are in the products so that they may safely work with and interact with their products during storage, transportation, installation, use and end-of-life.

The need to have all of the information about every single product in one place drove Novalis to choose 3E Exchange Digital Product Passports (DPPs) to travel with their products from start to finish. DPPs include all necessary information for a particular product, including:

• Product and manufacturer details

• Chemicals of concern and composition

• Safe use, maintenance and repair information

• Carbon footprint and other environmental impacts

• End-of-life options and instructions

One of the biggest benefits of 3E Exchange and DPPs is the ability to screen product ingredients against lists of regulated chemicals in European Union Regulations such as REACH. It is clear that Novalis is looking long-term and wants to “stay ahead of the game” when it comes to the entire product lifecycle.

3E solutions support global regulatory compliance

3E's suite of chemical regulatory compliance solutions is designed to empower product safety, compliance and sustainability teams - particularly in high-risk industries - with tools to streamline everything from SDS authoring and management, to chemical workplace safety, supply chain data collection, and horizon scanning. Recognized as a leader in the Verdantix Green Quadrant: Product Compliance Software report, “3E has secured market-leading scores across both the momentum and capabilities dimensions that make up the quadrant.” A trusted leader in the chemical compliance solutions space, 3E has gained momentum through the creation of its world-class regulatory data, AI-powered workflows, and our team of peerless regulatory experts.

We continue to invest in cutting-edge AI technology, leading regulatory experts and best-of-breed partnerships to advance our solutions so that our clients can achieve superior outcomes.

We invite you to explore the power of AI for EHS and product teams and envision with us the future of regulatory compliance.