On August 7, 2025, the French Ministry of Ecological Transition launched two public consultations on draft decrees implementing Law No. 2025-188 of February 27, 2025, known as the “PFAS Law”.

This represents a crucial step in the national strategy to reduce and eliminate per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), with direct implications for several industries and for the entire European market.

1. Ban on PFAS in consumer products

The law introduces a ban on the production, import, export, and placing on the market of certain products containing PFAS. The first implementing decree clarifies the scope, establishing:

• Definition of PFAS: aligned with the OECD (2021) definition, i.e. any substance containing at least one fully fluorinated –CF₂ or –CF₃ group.

• Affected categories: textiles, footwear, cosmetics, waxes, and waterproofing agents.

• Actors concerned: manufacturers, importers, distributors, and suppliers.

• Permitted residual concentration thresholds:

- 25 ppb for each PFAS measurable by targeted analysis (excluding polymers)

- 250 ppb for the sum of PFAS (including degraded precursors, excluding polymers)

- 50 ppm for PFAS including polymers

These limits are in line with current analytical detection capabilities and may be updated in light of scientific and technical progress.

• Initial exemptions (from 2026): personal protective equipment (PPE) regulated under Regulation (EU) 2016/425 and waterproofing products for PPE maintenance.

• Long-term exemptions (from 2030): technical industrial textiles, medical textiles, and products essential for healthcare or national sovereignty, where no PFAS-free alternatives exist.

2. Progressive reduction of industrial PFAS discharges

The second decree focuses on industrial wastewater containing PFAS.

The targets set are:

• –70% reduction of emissions (compared to 2023 levels) by February 27, 2028

• Complete elimination of PFAS discharges by February 2030

This roadmap builds on a 2023 monitoring campaign, which revealed the presence of PFAS in about half of the industrial sites analyzed.

URL：

https://www.consultations-publiques.developpement-durable.gouv.fr/projet-de-decret-d-application-de-l-article-1-de-a3224.html?lang=fr

https://www.consultations-publiques.developpement-durable.gouv.fr/projet-de-decret-relatif-aux-modalites-de-mise-en-a3223.html?lang=fr

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