The European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) stated that the five national competent authorities of Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands, Norway, and Sweden (submitters of the PFAS proposal dossier), ECHA's Risk Assessment Committee (RAC), and Socio-Economic Analysis Committee (SEAC) are continuing to review more than 5,600 scientific and technical opinions collected from third parties during 2023. These opinions will help the competent authorities gradually update and improve information on PFAS, including uses not specifically mentioned in the initial proposal, which will also be incorporated into existing or new assessments, such as sealing applications, technical textiles, printing applications, and other medical applications such as pharmaceutical packaging and adjuvants.
In addition to the complete ban and time-limited ban initially mentioned in the proposal, other restrictive measures are also under consideration. In particular, where there is evidence that the impact of a partial ban may exceed the reasonable socioeconomic burden, these uses and industries will be conditionally allowed to continue to produce, put on the market, or use PFAS. The projects under consideration for these other alternative restrictive measures include batteries, fuel cells, and electrolyzers.
The relevant authorities will assess the proportionality of each alternative and compare it with the original two restriction options (a total ban or a time-limited ban). All these updates will be included in ECHA's ongoing assessment and reference of the proposal.
Given the extensiveness of the restriction proposal (involving more than 10,000 substances used in more than 14 industries), the Committee has currently adopted an industry-based approach to conduct an assessment and reached a provisional conclusion on the hazards of PFAS. RAC and SEAC have also previously reached provisional conclusions on five industries. Only after the two committees have discussed all industries will it be possible to reach a final conclusion on the entire proposal, which will be sent by ECHA to the European Commission.
ECHA will continue its work in 2025, developing draft RAC and SEAC opinions. Further consultation will be conducted on the draft SEAC opinions, during which stakeholders can provide socio-economic information to inform SEAC's final opinion. ECHA will collaborate with the relevant authorities and proponents to provide the European Commission with transparent, independent, and high-quality RAC and SEAC opinions as soon as possible. The European Commission will ultimately develop regulatory measures in consultation with EU member states.
Reference Link：[Original message][Proposal webpage]
