Document pn2mmMjo1JE0Z2bVyMG9YDdX

federal public service HEALTH, FOOD CHAIN SAFETY AND ENVIRONMENT Brief Overview of Belgian and EU positions on PFAS History of PFAS actions in chemical legislation 2006: EU restriction of PFOS (under Dangerous Substance Directive) 2009: PFOS added to the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants (POP regulation in EU) 2011: PFOA and APFO identified as SVHC + CLP classification 2012: ICCM3 identifies PFAS as emerging policy issue 2016: PFNA identified as Substance of Very High Concern (SVHC) + CLP 2017: PFOA added to the REACH restriction list (Annex XVII) 2017: PFDA identified SVHC + CLP 2019: HFPO-DA (Gen-X) identified SVHC 2020: PFOA added to Stockholm Convention 2020: PFBS identified as SVHC Well know PFAS get regulated lesser known related PFAS replace them! = regrettable substitution Need for broader grouping approach 2021: C9-C14 added to the REACH restriction list (enters into force in 2023) 2023: PFHxS and related substances will be added to the Stockholm Convention 2 26/06/2019: Council Conclusions "Towards a Sustainable Chemicals Policy Strategy for the Union" https://www.consilium.europa.eu/media/40042/st10713-en19.pdf Para. 14, "UNDERLINES the increasing health and environmental concerns posed by highly persistent chemicals; NOTES in specific the growing evidence for adverse effects caused by exposure to highly fluorinated compounds (PFAS), the evidence for wide spread occurrence of PFAS in water, soil, articles and waste and the threat this may cause to our drinking water supplies; CALLS on the Commission to develop an action plan to eliminate all non-essential uses of PFAS;" December 2019: Elements for an EU-strategy for PFAS https://www.regjeringen.no/contentassets/1439a5cc9e82467385ea9f090f3c7bd7/fluor---eu-strategy-for-pfass--december-19.pdf Actions taken so far have not sufficiently addressed the concerns. This is why we urgently need a coherent and coordinated EU strategy to address PFASs through regulatory and non-regulatory actions. The goal is to minimise environmental and human exposure to PFASs, at all stages of their life cycle. To achieve this: (i) PFASs need to be managed as a group. (ii) PFASs need to be phased out and only essential uses allowed until alternatives are available. (iii) Limit values need to be set in different pieces of legislation. (iv) Steps to ensure effective enforcement are needed. (v) Environmental monitoring, awareness raising, research on alternatives, remediation and environmentally sound management of waste are also needed REACH: "A broad restriction under REACH covering all PFASs would be the preferred option, in order to limit as many non-essential uses as practically possible. This would have the greatest impact on minimising human and environmental exposure to PFASs. A broad restriction would also include unknown PFASs and uses." September 2020: 10 MS plea for ambitious EU chemicals strategy https://chemical-watch.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/downloads/Ten-countries-issue-last-minute.pdf https://files.chemicalwatch.com/Safe%20chemicals%20letter.pdf "the Commission should continuously develop the EU chemicals policy to address existing and emerging issues of concern such as endocrine disruptors, combination effects and persistent fluorinated substances (PFAS)." 2020: Chemical Strategy for Sustainability (CSS) Published in October 2020 Part of the EU Green Deal Several actions on chemicals envisaged: Review of REACH and CLP Take action on the "cocktail effect" ... Phase out of all PFAS in the EU, except for "essential uses" 6 CSS: EU PFAS strategy Goal: minimization of exposure of humans and environment to PFAS, taking into account the complete life-cycle of these substances Proposed actions: Take action on PFAS as a group Phasing out all PFAS, except for essential uses, until safer and sustainably alternatives are available Development of limit values for all relevant EU legislation Take action on effective enforcement (Bio)monitoring, researching alternatives, developing new analytical methods, etc. PFAS SWD 7 12/03/2021 - Council Conclusions "Sustainable Chemicals Strategy of the Union: Time to Deliver" The use of PFAS that are critical for society should only be allowed if suitable alternatives are not available. As emphasized by the COM in the COMMISSION STAFF WORKING DOCUMENT on PFAS (SWD(2020) 249 final), such an approach would lead to the development of alternatives and new business opportunities, especially if supported with Research and Development funding. Furthermore, we echo the request of the European Parliament in its resolution (2020/2531(RSP) in asking the Commission to "ensure the speedy phasing out of all non-essential uses of PFAS, and to accelerate the development of safe and non-persistent alternatives to all uses of PFAS". To properly reflected this approach in point 13, we would suggest the following changes: "UNDERLINES that PFAS substances require special attention to ensure that they are phased out unless their use is proven to be essential for society and suitable alternatives to be not available, since they pose threats to human health and the environment; CALLS ON the Commission to present a cross-sectoral and holistic PFAS-strategy ensuring the swift phasing out of all non-essential uses of PFAS, and to accelerate the development of safe and non-persistent alternatives to all uses of PFAS, to complement the anticipated PFAS restriction proposals." Statement by Belgium: "We also regret the lack of any reference to the availability of alternatives to PFAS. We therefore reiterate our support for banning them, except for certain specific uses for which it is proven that they are essential for society and provided that, and for as long as, there is no alternative available." 19/04/2023: EU Parliament topical debate on forever chemicals MEPs over alle fracties benadrukten relatief eensgezind het belang van volgende aandachtspunten bij de herziening van EU-wetgeving voor chemicalin: Een sterkere nadruk op het voorzorgsbeginsel en de omgekeerde bewijslast, waarbij enkel chemicalin die niet schadelijk zijn bevonden op de markt kunnen komen Een onmiddellijk verbod op niet-essentile toepassingen van forever chemicals Een verbod op de hele groep PFAS-stoffen, in plaats van het huidige systeem van stof-specifieke verboden Een vergrote aansprakelijkheid voor bedrijven die EU-wetgeving voor PFAS overtreden https://www.europarl.europa.eu/plenary/en/vod.html?mode=chapter&vodLanguage= EN&internalEPId=1681901164768&providerMeetingId=5dd7d4ec-b4e0-44b9-5a6708db3b27e9c5# federal public service HEALTH, FOOD CHAIN SAFETY AND ENVIRONMENT PFAS related policy topics Sector specific Food Contact Materials (FCM) Plant Protection Products (PPP) Water Drinking water Directive (DWD) Groundwater Directive (GWD) Water Framework Directive (WFD) ... Product policy Ecolabel Sustainable Product Initiative (SPI) Food EFSA opinion Food contaminants regulation Industrial Emissions Directive (IED) BAT E-PRTR Waste Soil International PIC OECD PFC group OSPAR SAICM Research Horizon Europe ... These competences in are divided Belgium 11 2019: Creation of the "short-chain" PFAS working group EU and International policy actions shift from well known long-chain PFAS (PFOA and PFOS) to lesser known short-chain PFAS (PFHxA, PFBS, etc.) Focus on "grouping approach" to tackle the large group of substances Arrow-head approach: target degradation product of large group of substances For example: PFHxA restriction process under REACH: group of substances with PFHxA as degradation product Resulting in a lot of different uses being tackled in risk management measures like restrictions Need for coordinated information gathering and exchange of information between Belgium authorities to follow these policy actions Resulted in the creation of a CCIEP short-chain PFAS working group As a subgroup of the CCIEP-Chemicals working group To share and collect data on short-chain PFAS in Belgium Report on the current knowledge of Short-Chain PFAS in Belgium 12 Renewal and extension of the CCIEP mandate May 2021: Historical pollution of PFOS near a production site in Zwijndrecht (Antwerp) gets media attention Results in political actions: Federal: Joint-Interministerial Conference on Environment and Health (JICEH) of July 8 2021, which requested to: Extend and expand on the mandate of the short-chain PFAS CCIEP working group To inform and optimize different actions being taken in BE Act as national expert body including all relevant authorities in order to share and collect PFAS related data 13