PFAS call for evidence

Lessons learnt from previous PFAS restrictions and the high political support for a broad restriction of PFAS at EU and national levels set the scene for putting forward a protective restriction proposal. Public pressure is also strong after areas and people have been affected by PFAS pollution in the EU. NGOs have campaigned to raise awareness on the issue, and the recent Dark Waters movie has shed the light on the PFAS issue, also impacting the US. With this process, the EU will be watched around the world on its handling of the PFAS restriction. Robust science needs to feed into the decision making, and regulatory guarantees must be fully used (such as the use of the precautionary principle throughout the whole process, consideration for the international law concept of essential uses, the principle of reduction of pollution at source) to propose a restriction that protects human health and the environment as foreseen in the REACH regulation (recital 87).

The EEB thanks the national authorities of Germany, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden and Denmark for considering a broad restriction proposal for PFAS. In this submission, we provide information on uses and on the issue of threshold values.

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