Euralarm response to ECHA proposal for restriction of PFAS

On 7th February 2023, ECHA (the European CHemical Agency for the EU and EEA countries of Iceland, Lichtenstein, and Norway) – an agency of the European Union – published a proposal for restriction of PFAS within the EU, submitted by Germany, Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden, and Norway. PFAS are a group of thousands of mainly man-made substances that are used in numerous applications worldwide. The proposal is very broad and covers many different applications of PFAS on 1,780 pages.

Within the proposal, the applications of PFAS are grouped into 14 sectors: TULAC (Textile, upholstery, leather, apparel and carpets) - Food contact materials and packaging - Metal plating and manufacture of metal products - Consumer mixtures - Cosmetics - Ski wax - Applications of fluorinated gases - Medical devices - Transport - Electronics and semiconductors - Energy sector - Construction products - Lubricants - Petroleum and mining. This document serves as brief overview summary with a focus on firefighting gases as part of the sector group ‘Applications of fluorinated gases’.