Next steps in the PFAS restriction process - timeline for next six months

During the public consultation on the PFAS restriction dossier submitted by the German authorities together with the authorities of four other European countries, which ran from March to September 2023, a record number of 5,642 comments were received.

After initial screening of the comments by, both the dossier-submitting authorities and the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA), ECHA is now providing information on the next steps in the restriction process on its website.

According to this, the comments received will be processed on a sector-by-sector basis by both, ECHA's scientific committees, the Committee for Risk Assessment (RAC) and the Committee for Socio-Economic Analysis (SEAC), as well as by the dossier submitters.

The latter use the information from the comments to revise the originally submitted restriction report. This then serves as the so-called background document alongside the comments as the basis for the committees' opinions.

The following topics and sectors will be addressed at the next three RAC and SEAC committee meetings:

Meetings in March 2024:

Consumer mixtures, cosmetics and ski wax
Hazard properties of PFAS (only in RAC)
General approach (only in SEAC)

Meetings in June 2024:

Metal coating and manufacturing of metal products
Additional discussion on hazard properties (RAC only)

Meetings in September 2024:

Textiles, upholstery, leather, apparel, carpets (TULAC)
Food contact materials and packaging
Petroleum and mining

Information on the further schedule and the planned discussions in the committees will be announced by ECHA as work advances. Publication is always planned in parallel to the committee meetings.

As soon as the ECHA committees have finalized their opinions, the European Commission will decide on the restriction together with the EU Member States.

» Further information (ECHA)

Source: REACH-CLP-Biozid Helpdesk