This paper investigates the impact of chemicals regulation on substitution of chemicals by analyzing time trends in the industrial use of chemicals from 2000 to 2014 in Scan-dinavia. It is shown that the use of ten water-relevant SVHCs decreased by about 90% in the considered period in Sweden as compared to a control group of unregulated substances which decreased by only 20%. A closer inspection of the use of 23 highly used plasticizers revealed that the use of regulated phthalate plasticizers decreased while the use of non-phthalate plasticizers increased.