European Union

  • EU Generic PFAS restriction proposal: SEAC to issue Opinion in November while the Commission considers splitting the proposal. The consultation on the draft SEAC Opinion has ended. The SEAC is set to adopt its final opinion during its 73rd meeting in November 2026. In parallel, Commissioner Roswall reprised a suggestion to split the restriction between consumer and industrial uses in the context of a high-level dialogue held on 15 June. This would allow it to adopt a strict ban on consumer uses, while allowing critical industrial uses under strict conditions. The Commission is able to do this as the ultimate decision-maker but needs to justify its divergence from ECHA’s Committees’ opinions.
  • MEPs in the European Parliament discuss the suspension of the new extended producer responsibility obligations imposed on the cosmetics and pharmaceutical industries. The Revised Urban Wastewater Directive (Directive (EU) 2024/3019) sets out obligations on wastewater treatment, collection and discharge, with provisions addressing the monitoring and elimination of PFAS in urban wastewater treatment plant effluents. It also introduces extended producer responsibility obligations (‘EPR’) relating to such emissions, applicable to the cosmetics and pharmaceutical sectors from 31 December 2028. The EPP group in the Parliament has successfully pushed the adoption of a resolution proposing a stop-the-clock. Such a resolution does not bind the Commission but only constitute a means of political pressure.
  • EU – Commissioner Roswall organises PFAS talks. Environment Commissioner Jessika Roswall has hosted a high-level “Stakeholder dialogue on PFAS-related pollution challenges”, involving around twenty participants from the industry, research sector, NGOs as well as representatives of waste and water treatment installations. Participants were asked to exchange on a series of questions addressed by the Commission, on the practical impacts of PFAS pollution, challenges in addressing it and the implementation of solutions to transition away from PFAS pollution and tackle pollution.
  • ECHA Risk Assessment Committee issues its opinion on the TFA harmonised classification proposal. The Risk Assessment Committee (‘RAC’) has issued its opinion on 5 June 2026 on the proposed classification of Trifluoroacetic acid (‘TFA’) as Reprotoxic Category 1B, Acute Tox 3, very persistent and very mobile (‘vPvM’) and persistent, mobile and toxic (‘PMT’). The RAC’s opinion (which is not publicized yet) concludes in favour of such a classification. Once adopted, the opinion will serve as a basis for the final decision of the European Commission on the classification.
  • Commission recommends PFAS monitoring in animal feed. The Commission has adopted Recommendation (EU) 2026/1307 on the monitoring of PFAS in feed. Member States, in collaboration with feed business operators, are recommended to monitor PFOS, PFOA, PFNA and PFHxS in feed during 2026, 2027 and 2028. The Recommendation also provides that, during follow-up investigations into high PFAS levels in food of animal origin, PFAS should be analysed in the soil on which food-producing animals forage and in their drinking water. Member States should submit analytical results to EFSA by 30 June 2029.
  • Commissions issues presentation from PFAS packaging task force. The Commission has published draft slides with the latest output from the PFAS packaging task force, as discussed during the May meeting of the Waste Expert Group. Although in draft form, these slides give much more detail on the Commission’s proposed approach to the PFAS threshold in the PPWR and how industry (and market surveillance authorities) should approach it. The Commission recommends that manufacturers carry out a PFAS risk assessment and include same, and the relevant follow-up actions, in their technical documentation.

Member States

  • GERMANY – Germany flags disproportionate burden in the context of the consultation on the draft SEAC Opinion. Germany has submitted comments in the context of the consultation held on the draft SEAC Opinion on the generic EU restriction proposal. Germany’s economy minister calls for greater consideration of supply chain dynamics and needs of the downstream industry. It also calls for more leeway for low-risk PFAS. Finally, the comments highlight fluoropolymers as a particular concern.
  • FRANCE – Consultation closes on PFAS-contaminated liquid waste treatment rules. France held a public consultation, which closed on 7 June, on a draft order concerning the treatment of liquid waste likely to contain PFAS at certain classified installations handling hazardous and non-hazardous waste.
  • The proposed rules would apply under the French ‘classified installations’ regime. The consultation materials indicate that the draft text is intended to implement part of France’s interministerial PFAS action plan, and concerns liquid waste streams such as contaminated firefighting water, rinsing water from fluorinated firefighting foams, polluted hydrocarbon waters and heavily contaminated industrial effluents.
  • DENMARK – PFAS restrictions on clothing, footwear and waterproofing agents to apply from 1 July. Denmark’s national restrictions on PFAS in clothing, footwear and certain consumer waterproofing agents are due to apply from 1 July 2026. The restrictions prohibit the import and sale to consumers of covered products containing PFAS above 50 mg F/kg.
  • Goods imported before 1 July 2026 may continue to be sold until 1 January 2027. The restrictions include exemptions, including for certain professional safety clothing and personal protective equipment where PFAS performs a safety function, as well as for medical devices and certain reuse and recycling scenarios. The Danish rules are expected to be repealed once the wider EU PFAS generic restriction applies.

United Kingdom

  • Government provides further comments on PFAS Plan implementation. While there have not been any significant regulatory publications on PFAS by UK authorities in June, Government ministers have continued to refer to its PFAS Plan in parliamentary questions, for example in response to queries on the state of contaminated land and in relation to the Government’s framework for addressing PFAS risks.
  • Local authority acting on residents’ concerns about land and water contamination. Cherwell District Council has indicated that it is asking the UK Government to designate land at Heyford Park as a priority monitoring sit for PFAS in water and soil. This follows residents raising concerns about historic use of PFAS in firefighting foams at RAF Upper Heyford.
  • New report on PFAS and pesticides. The environmental charity Fidra has in June 2026 published a report investigating “the use of PFAS as an active pesticide substance in the UK in 2023-2024, with particular focus on the UK arable sector.” The report highlights pesticides as an area of EU/UK regulatory divergence, citing the continued use in the UK of certain pesticides that have been withdrawn in other jurisdictions.