The EU will revise the PFOS and HBCDD restriction requirements in POPs regulations

1.What are POPs?
The control of persistent organic pollutants (POPs) is receiving increasing attention. The Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants, a global convention aimed at protecting human health and the environment from the hazards of POPs, was adopted internationally on May 22, 2001. The EU is a contracting party to the convention and has an obligation to comply with its provisions. Based on this requirement, the UK has recently issued a regulation called the 2023 Persistent Organic Pollutants (Revised) Ordinance, which updates the control scope of the Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) regulation. This revision aims to update the restrictions on PFOS and HBCDD in the POPs regulation.
2. POPs Regulatory Update 1:
PFOS, as one of the earliest regulated PFAS substances in the European Union, has fewer controlled substances and more relaxed limit requirements compared to other updated substances. This update mainly expands on these two points, including the inclusion of PFOS related substances in control requirements, and significantly reduces the limit value, making it consistent with other PFAS substances such as PFOA, PFHxS, etc. The specific proposed update content and current regulatory requirements are compared as follows:

3. POPs Regulatory Update 2:

Another substance to be updated is HBCDD, which was previously used as an alternative restricted substance when the RoHS Directive was updated to version 2.0. This substance is mainly used as a flame retardant, especially in the production of expanded polystyrene (EPS). The content to be updated this time also points to the products and materials for this purpose. The specific comparison between the proposed update content and current regulatory requirements is as follows:

4. Common questions about POPs:
4.1 What is the scope of control for EU POPs regulations?
The substances, mixtures, and items placed on the EU market are all within their control scope.
4.2 Scope of products applicable to EU POPs regulations?
It can be various products and their raw materials.
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