PARC and the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre (JRC) met online on 24 February 2026 for their annual meeting, bringing together around 40 PARC representatives and 20 JRC participants. The meeting provided an opportunity to review ongoing joint work, share updates on PARC activities, and identify new areas for collaboration in support of European chemical safety. This meeting was the third one since the official collaboration between PARC and JRC was established in 2023.

The objective of the meeting was to update JRC on several PARC activities of interest and to identify more potential points of collaboration. Some of the currently on-going collaboration and future plans, include the following:

• JRC will continue its involvement in reviewing and advising several new PARC projects that will begin in the 5th year of PARC (May 2026). For example, PARC projects have the potential to enrich the European Commission’s catalogue of “transitional initiatives ↗” that will contribute to the Roadmap on the phasing out of animal testing in chemical safety assessments.
• The Safe and Sustainable by Design (SSbD) Framework ↗ was recently updated by the Commission, with substantial input from the JRC. PARC and JRC have been taking turns to host an annual SSbD Bootcamp since 2023. JRC advised PARC to integrate the new updates into the current training materials. The next one will be hosted in October 2026 by the PARC SSbD team in Greece. To access the recordings from the previous bootcamps, please visit the PARC Repository of learning and educational materials.
• A sustainability plan needs to be established to ensure that PARC results can be accessed beyond the end of PARC (April 2029, with possible extension). PARC is interested in utilising JRC’s Information Platform for Chemical Monitoring (IPCHEM ↗), which will be integrated into the new Common Data Platform on Chemicals. During the meeting, PARC also had the opportunity to present the current state of development of a tool for its Data Management Plan, which JRC took an interest in.
• Both JRC and PARC are interested in collaborating with the European Infrastructure for Human Exposome (EIRENE ↗), especially during the implementation of “One Substance, One Assessment” across the European Union in the near future.

This meeting was a clear reflection of the fruitful and constructive cooperation between PARC and the JRC.