Netherlands, along with four other countries – Germany, Norway, Sweden, and Denmark – submitted a proposal in January 2023 for a EU-wide ban on per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS).
The proposal aims to prohibit the production, placing on the market (including import), and use of virtually all different PFAS: both existing and non-existing ones. This is to prevent companies from replacing one PFAS with another.
The Proposal
Bureau REACH presented the proposal on February 7, 2023, at the Dutch Permanent Representation in Brussels to the press. This coincided with the publication of the preliminary dossier. Various national newspapers in the EU and beyond reported on this. The head of Bureau REACH also discussed this on Radio 1 with the presenter and industry representatives.
The official publication of the proposal was in March 2023. At that time, a consultation period of six months began, during which stakeholders could respond to the proposal and submit missing information. At the end of the consultation period on September 25, there were as many as 5642 comments. This amounted to over 100,000 pages in total, including attachments.
Work in 2024
The scientific committees of the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) are currently evaluating the dossier. These are the Risk Assessment Committee (RAC) and the Socio-Economic Analysis Committee (SEAC). In the meantime, the dossier submitters – including Bureau REACH – are updating the dossier. They do this based on the received comments, information, and recommendations from the scientific committees. The work is phased and will continue into 2024.