Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2025/718 of 14 April 2025 amending Regulation (EU) 2019/1021 of the European Parliament and of the Council as regards perfluorooctane sulfonic acid and its derivatives

THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION,

Having regard to the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union,

Having regard to Regulation (EU) 2019/1021 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 20 June 2019 on persistent organic pollutants [^ntr1-L_202500718EN.000101-E0001], and in particular Article 15(1) thereof,

Whereas:

• (1) Regulation (EU) 2019/1021 implements the commitments of the Union under the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants [^ntr2-L_202500718EN.000101-E0002] and under the Protocol to the 1979 Convention on Long Range Transboundary Air Pollution on Persistent Organic Pollutants [^ntr3-L_202500718EN.000101-E0003].

• (2) Annex I to Regulation (EU) 2019/1021 contains unintentional trace contaminant (UTC) limit values for perfluorooctane sulfonic acid and its derivatives (PFOS).

• (3) PFOS was the first per- and polyfluoroalkyl compound regulated in the Union, and the UTC limit values were set a long time ago. More recently, a similar group of substances, perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), its salts and PFOA-related compounds, with very similar uses to PFOS, was included in Annex I to Regulation (EU) 2019/1021 with a much lower UTC limit value. That indicates that lower levels of contamination with those chemicals are technically feasible today.

• (4) The UTC limit values for PFOS should therefore be reviewed, to bring them in line with those specified for PFOA, its salts and PFOA-related compounds.

• (5) In order to have a full alignment between the entries on PFOS and PFOA in Annex I to Regulation (EU) 2019/1021, the wording of the first column of the entry on PFOS should be modified by replacing ‘Perfluorooctane sulfonic acid and its derivatives (PFOS)’ with ‘Perfluorooctane sulfonic acid (PFOS), its salts and PFOS-related compounds’.

• (6) Annex I to Regulation (EU) 2019/1021 includes an exemption for the use of PFOS as mist suppressant for non-decorative hard chromium (VI) plating. The information collected at Member State level on the substances used as mist-suppressants in hard chromium plating confirms that PFOS has been substituted for that use in the Union. Therefore, that specific exemption is no longer needed and should be deleted.

• (7) The entry on PFOS in Annex I to Regulation (EU) 2019/1021, in its point 5, refers to the availability of analytical methods. As no other entry in the POPs Regulation specifies such details, point 5 should be deleted.

• (8) It is appropriate to provide for a reasonable period of time for interested parties to take the measures necessary to comply with certain elements of this Regulation and for Member States to take the measures necessary for their implementation.

• (9) Regulation (EU) 2019/1021 should therefore be amended accordingly,

HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:

Article 1

Annex I to Regulation (EU) 2019/1021 is amended in accordance with the Annex to this Regulation.

Article 2

This Regulation shall enter into force on the twentieth day following that of its publication in the Official Journal of the European Union.

Point 2 and point 3 of the Annex shall apply from 3 December 2025.

This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and directly applicable in all Member States.

Done at Brussels, 14 April 2025.

For the Commission

The President

Ursula VON DER LEYEN

[^ntr1-L_202500718EN.000101-E0001]: OJ L 169, 25.6.2019, p. 45, ELI: http://data.europa.eu/eli/reg/2019/1021/oj.

[^ntr2-L_202500718EN.000101-E0002]: OJ L 209, 31.7.2006, p. 3, ELI: http://data.europa.eu/eli/convention/2006/507/oj.

[^ntr3-L_202500718EN.000101-E0003]: OJ L 81, 19.3.2004, p. 37, ELI: http://data.europa.eu/eli/prot/2004/259/oj.

ANNEX

In Annex I to Regulation (EU) 2019/1021, Part A, in the table, the entry ‘Perfluorooctane sulfonic acid and its derivatives (PFOS)’ is amended as follows:

• (1) in the first column, the text is replaced by the following:

‘Perfluorooctane sulfonic acid (PFOS), its salts and PFOS-related compounds

C8F17SO2X

(X = OH, Metal salt (O-M⁺), halide, amide, and other related compounds including polymers)’;

• (2) in the fourth column, point 1 is replaced by the following:

• ‘1. For the purposes of this entry, point (b) of Article 4(1) shall apply to concentrations of PFOS or any of its salts equal to or below 0,025 mg/kg (0,0000025 % by weight) where they are present in substances, mixtures or in articles’;

• (3) in the fourth column, point 2 is replaced by the following:

• ‘2. For the purposes of this entry, Article 4(1), point (b), shall apply to the sum of concentrations of all PFOS-related compounds equal to or below 1 mg/kg (0,0001 % by weight) where they are present in substances, mixtures or articles.’;

• (4) in the fourth column, point 4 is deleted;

• (5) in the fourth column, point 5 is deleted.

ELI: http://data.europa.eu/eli/reg_del/2025/718/oj

ISSN 1977-0677 (electronic edition)