It nonetheless signals a determined endeavor of lawmakers to act after only 2 ½ years of media, scientific, elected officials and NGOs awareness raising efforts – a relatively short period considering French political customs and the fact that the original version of the bill was stalled due to the dissolution of the National Assembly by President Macron on 09.06.2024.
This vote further echoes the letter issued earlier this year to Ursula von der Leyen by 97 environmental organizations deploring ‘the most serious pollution crisis the humanity has ever faced’ and urging the President of the EU Commission to move swiftly and boldly to ban PFAS.
The French legislation amends the Code of the Environment and the Public Health Code. It will require supplementing regulations to enter into force. The key takeaways are the following:
Product bans
From 01.01.2026, the manufacturing, import, export, and marketing for payment or free of charge of the following perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) containing products are prohibited:
- cosmetic products;
- ski-waxes;
- textile clothing products, footwear, and waterproofing agents for textile clothing products and footwear intended for consumers, except for textile clothing and footwear designed for the protection and safety of individuals, in particular in the accomplishment of national defense or civil security missions, the list of which shall be specified by decree.
From 01.01.2030, the same ban shall apply to any PFAS-containing textile product, except for textile products necessary to essential uses, those contributing to the exercise of national sovereignty and for which there is no substitute solution, and technical textiles for industrial use, the list of which shall be specified by decree. (Env. Code, L524-1 I, II, and III)
The above bans will not apply to products containing PFAS at concentrations less than or equal to residual values to be defined by decree.
For the time being, kitchen utensils dodge the ban thanks to fierce lobbying on the part of the world’s leading manufacturer of non-stick frying pans. The fate of food-contact packaging is not addressed and left to upcoming EU legislation.
Water monitoring and mapping
To secure the transparency of findings – the absence of which has been severely criticized by NGOs and the media alike – the bill adds PFAS to the list of substances which competent authorities must monitor in drinking waters. The list of relevant PFAS varieties will be specified by decree. This decree shall also detail the conditions for controlling PFAS substances which may not be listed but which are nonetheless quantifiable and which monitoring is justified in the light of local circumstances.
A map of all sites having emitted or emitting PFAS into the environment will be made available online by the Government to the public and revised at least every year. This map shall include, where available, quantitative measurements of such emissions into the environment. Cleanup actions and the maximum PFAS emission limit values at all emitting sites shall be set by orders (presumably by amendments to their operating permits). (Public Health Code, L1321-9-1)
Finally, within one year of the promulgation of the law, the Government shall submit to Parliament a report proposing updated health standards for PFAS substances in water intended for human consumption.
Ending PFAS emissions into the environment within 5 years
France is also to adopt a national trajectory for the gradual reduction of aqueous discharges of PFAS substances from industrial installations. The objective is to secure the end of such discharges within five years from the promulgation of the law. The trajectory, the list of substances concerned, as well as the means of implementation will be specified by decree.
Within one year of the promulgation of the law, the Government shall adopt an interministerial action plan for the financing of the decontamination of waters intended for human consumption managed by local drinking water and sanitation authorities.
This action plan shall outline the various resources available to such local authorities to finance their decontamination policy, the role and missions of Water Agencies (Agences de l’Eau), the role of the State in supporting these public policies, and include a provisional timetable. (Env. Code, L523-6-1)
PFAS-discharge fee
PFAs are added to the list of substances subject to fee payments in case of discharge of non-domestic waste waters to the natural milieu or sewer networks.
This PFAS fee is due by operators of installations subject to authorization pursuant to Article L512-1 of the Code of the Environment and whose activities result in discharges of PFAS substances. It is based on the mass of PFAS substances discharged per year into the water, directly or via a collection network. The threshold for the collection is established at one hundred grams and the rate of the fee is set at EUR 100 per hundred grams. The list of PFAS substances on which the fee is based shall be defined by decree. (Env. Code, L213-10-2 IV bis)
Transparency
Finally, the overall transparency effort is supplemented by the Regional Health Agencies’ (Agences régionales de santé) obligation to publish a regional annual report detailing their PFAS substances analyses program in water intended for human consumption, including in bottled water, as well as the results of this program. Based on these results, the Minister responsible for health shall publish yearly a national report on the quality of tap water in France with regard to the presence of PFAS substances.
Produktkanzlei has a broad network of international cooperation partners. This article was written by David Desforges, with whom we have been cooperating on product law issues in France for many years. You can reach out to David Desforges with the following contact details:
