Europe drafts PFAS restrictions

August 21, 2025

Read the full article by Alex Scott (C&EN)

"The European Chemicals Agency (ECHA), the arm of the European Commission (EC) responsible for managing the use of chemicals in the European Union (EU), has proposed a series of measures to reduce the risks posed by per-and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) under the EC’s Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation, and Restriction of Chemicals legislation.

ECHA says in a press release that it has considered restriction options that are alternatives to a full ban or a ban with time-limited derogations for certain applications. These alternative options involve conditions that allow the continued manufacture, sale on the market, or use of PFAS when the risks can be controlled. For example, among its recommendations, ECHA is proposing the continued use of PFAS for the manufacture of electronics “under strict conditions that minimize emissions over the full life cycle.”

The various proposed measures indicate a substantial climb down from the EC’s position in 2023, when with the backing of the governments of Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands, Norway, and Sweden, the EC had been seeking a blanket ban on the use of PFAS across the EU because of growing evidence that PFAS are persistent, can be toxic, and can bioaccumulate in organisms—including people."