The European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) has continued its evaluation of the European proposal to restrict per- and polyfluoroalkylated substances (PFAS) at its first two meetings in 2025, according to a press release dated 19 March.
The Risk Assessment Committee (RAC), for example, has adopted 13 opinions on harmonised classification and labelling. Two concern silver nitrate and synthetic amorphous silica. The RAC has also drawn up provisional conclusions on the use of PFAS in the transport and energy sectors. The Committee for Socio-Economic Analysis (SEAC) will take over discussions on these two areas in June, ECHA has warned. In addition, the RAC and SEAC have already “reached provisional conclusions for applications of fluorinated gases”.
In June, the Risk Assessment Committee and the Committee for Socio-Economic Analysis will examine the use of PFASs in the medical devices and lubricants sectors. The RAC will also initiate discussions on the electronics and semi-conductor sectors.
In January, the European Commission warned that its proposal to restrict and ban PFASs would not arrive until 2026 (see EUROPE 13563/15), i.e. when ECHA has finalised its opinions.
Meanwhile, calls for a complete ban on PFAS are multiplying. Around fifty MEPs from the Greens/EFA (20 MEPs), The Left (11), S&D (10), Renew Europe (7) and the EPP (Dirk Gotink and Sirpa Pietikäinen) called on European Commissioners Olivér Várhelyi, Christophe Hansen and Jessika Roswall, in a letter dated 4 March, to ban all PFAS pesticides, to reject new applications for approval of PFAS active substances for pesticides in the EU, and to classify PFAS co-formulants as unacceptable for use in plant protection products. (Original version in French by Florent Servia)