European Union

Universal PFAS Restriction. The minutes of ECHA’s 68th SEAC meeting (15–19 September 2025) outline that SEAC experts reached provisional conclusions for the lubricants and energy sectors, covering regulatory alternatives, substitution options, socio-economic impacts, potential sector-specific derogations and associated uncertainties. Discussions on the electronics and semiconductors sectors will continue in December, with further assessment required on alternatives, cost implications, proportionality and derogation needs. SEAC also initiated examination of PFAS manufacturing based on the Rapporteur’s findings.

ECHA has separately published, on 5 November, a first draft mapping of sectors, uses and applications to be addressed in the forthcoming SEAC draft Opinion. This initial document provides an overview of PFAS uses under evaluation and will be updated after the December SEAC meeting, incorporating provisional conclusions on electronics, semiconductors and manufacturing, alongside clearer sector descriptions. A final mapping will accompany the public consultation launching in March 2026.

PFAS related provisions in the EU Toy Safety Regulation. MEPs have adopted the new Toy Safety Regulation, formally concluding the legislative procedure and replacing Directive 2009/48/EC. The Regulation introduces stricter chemical safety requirements, including a prohibition on the intentional use of PFAS in toys placed on the EU market.

The measure expands the existing restrictions on carcinogenic, mutagenic and reprotoxic substances to cover chemicals particularly harmful to children, such as endocrine disruptors, respiratory sensitisers, skin-toxic substances and PFAS. These prohibitions form part of a broader update designed to address increased online sales and strengthen market surveillance.

The final text will be published in the Official Journal in the coming weeks and will enter into force 20 days thereafter. A transitional period of four and a half years will apply for manufacturers and economic operators to comply with the new requirements.

Parliament considers REACH-linked amendments within the defence readiness omnibus. As part of its examination of the EU’s defence readiness package, lawmakers are debating amendments that would reshape how REACH, nature and waste laws apply to strategic sectors. The omnibus, proposed in June to reduce administrative burdens and unlock major investment in defence, also carries implications for chemicals policy, with the Commission warning that current REACH derogations for defence have been applied too restrictively.

Amendment 27, introduced by Jana Nagyová, seeks to classify PFAS as indispensable for health, defence, semiconductors and other strategic applications where adequate alternatives are lacking, potentially enabling future derogations under the forthcoming PFAS restriction. Political groups are divided: Green MEPs call for safeguards preventing broader exemptions, while Renew Europe advocates for expanded defence-related flexibility.

Renew MEPs also support amendments recognising defence and security projects as overriding public interest and excluding defence equipment from the Waste Framework Directive. Industry feedback, urges streamlined permitting across environmental legislation. Further discussions are expected in the coming weeks.

France

French Parliament rejects proposals to tax PFAS at source: French lawmakers have rejected several proposals to introduce new PFAS-specific fiscal measures during the 2026 budget discussions. Although a levy on industrial PFAS discharges into water, established under the February 2025 law, was endorsed, proposals to expand PFAS taxation were not retained.

Draft measures that failed to secure support included adding PFAS to the air-pollution component of the general environmental tax framework and introducing a source-based tax on producers of fluorinated chemicals. Government officials argued that assigning a financial value to substances targeted for a potential ban risks normalising their presence on the market rather than supporting a phase-out. The government reiterated that PFAS, given their hazard profile, should simply not be found in consumer products or homes.

These discussions precede the entry into force of the EU-level PFAS restriction currently under consideration and demonstrate increasing national pressure for upstream control measures, even as policymakers debate the most appropriate regulatory tools.

National Assembly maintains 2026 start date for PFAS water-discharge levy. The French National Assembly has adopted a revised version of the levy on aqueous PFAS emissions, replacing provisions of the February 2025 framework that were considered insufficient. Lawmakers rejected an amendment seeking to postpone the levy’s effective date to 1 January 2027, despite arguments that the government would not be in a position to publish the implementing decree before year-end.

Members of Parliament from several groups opposed the delay, confirming that preparatory work for implementation was already complete. As adopted, the levy will apply from 2026 as originally scheduled. Operators connected to dedicated PFAS-treatment networks will be eligible for a reduction of 50–90%, the exact rate to be set by decree. The taxable base will be calculated on net PFAS emissions, excluding any PFAS present in upstream water supplies.

The measure signals a firm political stance against further postponements of PFAS-related fiscal instruments, reinforcing France’s broader efforts to address PFAS contamination ahead of forthcoming EU-wide restrictions.

United Kingdom

UK Drinking Water Inspectorate (“DWI”) orders water companies to tackle PFAS. This month it was reported that the DWI had issued 34 legal instruments (including 23 enforcement notices, which are formal documents requiring recipients to take specified actions within a set timeframe) to water companies to ensure potentially harmful levels PFAS in drinking water are not met. This illustrates growing interest in this area and follows the DWI issuing guidance in March 2025 setting clear expectations that water companies will “adopt a tiered approach to risk assessment, monitoring and management of PFAS concentrations in drinking water supplies”.

Environment Agency (“EA”) updates perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS) guidance. The EA has updated its guidance on challenges of PFOS and related substances for the water environment. The report covers the EA’s updated understanding of sources of some PFOS (including legacy household and consumer products, landfill leachate), the pathways of PFOS into the water environment, measurements of levels in the water environment and identified trends, and control measures for PFOS (in particular under the Environmental Permitting Regulations 2016 and under the Persistent Organic Pollutants regime, noting that the final remaining exception for use of PFOS came to an end in September 2025) . This is a revised version of guidance initially published in 2021. The updates also include references to significant documentation released this year in particular the DWI’s March 2025 guidance to water companies and the Health and Safety Executive (“HSE”) UK REACH Annex 15 restriction dossier on PFAS in firefighting foams.

Other

Big Corporations to eliminate PFAS from their production lines. Several major chemical producers have announced independent plans to eliminate PFAS from their product portfolios, despite the continued delay in the publication of the EU-wide PFAS restriction proposal. One large German manufacturer stated that it will discontinue all PFAS-containing formulations and will monitor the transition through its internal sustainability assessment system. The company indicated that it intends to rely on the forthcoming EU restriction as a reference point and will work to provide alternative solutions for its customers. A prominent United States producer with extensive operations in Europe confirmed that it remains on track to end global PFAS manufacturing by the end of 2025, following significant scrutiny arising from contamination incidents in recent years. The company’s European government affairs representative underlined the importance of a consistent and proportionate regulatory regime that manages compliance costs and preserves investment capacity for research, innovation and employment.