PFAS restriction proposal
PFAS restriction proposal
jeudi 10 mars 2022
The European Commission aims at limiting or even eliminating gradually the PFASs (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances) which are not essential to society. Following the request of the European Commission, ECHA reviewed concerns about the use of PFASs. It was concluded that these substances are not sufficiently controlled and should be restricted from a public health and environnmental point of view. The per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances are a large family of synthetic chemicals that are commonly used in the society. These substances can resist degradation and persist in the environment and in the human body. They can be found in different uses: textiles (rain clothes and homes textiles), food packaging and food contact materials (non-stick coatings for frying pans and pots, paper and cardboard), fire-fighting foams and fire protective clothing and construction materials (paints, chrome plating).
ECHA has analysed the risks of PFASs especially in fire-fighting foams which are responsible for large contaminations of soil and groundwater. The proposed restriction would ban the use, the marketing and the export of the whole PFAS class in firefighting foams and would set up transition periods to give time for industrials to remove the PFASs in their products. The purpose of this restriction would be to reduce environmental contamination risks as well as the impact on human health.
According to ECHA, more than 13000 tonnes of PFAS emissions over 30 years could be avoided thanks to this restriction.
Comments on the proposal can be submitted to update the proposal during the six-month consultation period, which will start on 23 March 2022. In addition, ECHA's online info session is planned on 5 April 2022 for those interested in participating in the consultation process.
Furthermore, European countries such as The Netherlands, Germany, Denmark, Sweden, and Norway agreed to propose a restriction project that will cover all PFASs for many uses (over 4 000 chemical substances). This proposal is expected to be submitted to ECHA in January 2023. It should be noted that Germany has in particular proposed to restrict the use of undecafluorohexanoic acid (PFHxA) in December 2021, proposal which has been adopted by the Committee for Socio-Economic Analysis.