POPs Regulation (PFAS)

The EU Persistent Organic Pollutants Regulation ((EU) 2019/1021, recast) implements the Stockholm Convention on POPs within EU law, banning or severely restricting the production, placing on the market, and use of listed persistent organic pollutants. Several PFAS are listed as POPs: PFOS (2009), PFOA and its salts and related compounds (2019), PFHxS (2022), and long-chain PFCAs (C9–21, listed in 2025 with a global ban from December 2026). The POPs Regulation takes precedence over REACH for listed substances.

Regulation (EU) 2019/1021; Stockholm Convention; Commission Delegated Regulations amending POPs Annexes.

The POPs Regulation imposes the strictest controls on listed PFAS—essentially an outright ban with very limited exemptions. For companies, this means zero tolerance for POPs-listed PFAS in products above the specified concentration thresholds. The recent listing of C9–21 PFCAs (with a global ban effective December 2026) is particularly impactful for industries that use long-chain fluorochemistry. Companies must screen products against the current POPs list and prepare for new additions.

A wire and cable manufacturer uses a fluoropolymer insulation material that contains trace levels of a C10 PFCA (a long-chain perfluorocarboxylic acid). With C9–21 PFCAs listed under the Stockholm Convention and subject to an EU POPs ban effective December 2026, the manufacturer must verify that the C10 PFCA concentration is below the regulatory threshold or switch to a non-PFAS insulation material.