{
  "type": "problem",
  "slug": "pops-in-product",
  "lang": "en",
  "url": "https://www.conphora.com/solutions/problem/pops-in-product/",
  "markdown": "https://www.conphora.com/solutions/problem/pops-in-product.md",
  "title": "Could our product contain a banned persistent pollutant?",
  "description": "Persistent organic pollutants in articles: the POPs Regulation's Annex I ban, trace contaminant limits such as PFOA and PBDEs, recycled plastics and dates.",
  "answer": "Regulation (EU) 2019/1021 prohibits making, placing on the market and using the substances in its Annex I, also when they are in articles. Small amounts are only tolerated as unintentional trace contaminants up to the limits set in each entry. Ask suppliers which Annex I substances could be in each material, test where the risk is real, and track the entries that change.",
  "theme": {
    "id": "chemicals-materials",
    "label": "Chemicals and materials"
  },
  "roles": [
    {
      "id": "manufacturer",
      "label": "Manufacturer"
    },
    {
      "id": "importer",
      "label": "Importer"
    }
  ],
  "regulations": [
    "POPs",
    "GPSR"
  ],
  "path": [
    "regulation-library",
    "knowledge-articles"
  ],
  "trigger": "A customer asks for a POPs statement, a test finds a brominated flame retardant or a fluorinated substance, or an entry in Annex I is added or tightened",
  "keep": null,
  "why": [
    {
      "text": "Regulation (EU) 2019/1021 implements the international rules on persistent organic pollutants in EU law. Its core is short: the manufacturing, placing on the market and use of substances listed in Annex I, whether on their own, in mixtures or in articles, is prohibited, and the substances in Annex II are restricted, both subject to Article 4 (Article 3(1) and (2)). The Regulation takes its definitions of article, substance, mixture and placing on the market from REACH (Article 2).",
      "sources": [
        1,
        2
      ]
    },
    {
      "text": "The exemptions are narrow. Article 3 does not apply to a substance used for laboratory-scale research or as a reference standard, or to a substance present as an unintentional trace contaminant, as specified in the relevant entries of Annex I or II (Article 4(1)). An unintentional trace contaminant is a level incidentally present in a minimal amount, below which the substance cannot be meaningfully used (Article 2(12)). The tolerated levels are therefore set per substance in the annex, not in the articles of the Regulation.",
      "sources": [
        1
      ]
    },
    {
      "text": "The entries carry concrete numbers. The PFOA entry tolerates PFOA or its salts up to 0.025 mg/kg in substances, mixtures or articles, and any individual PFOA-related compound or combination of them up to 1 mg/kg (points 1 and 2). The PFHxS entry sets 0.025 mg/kg for PFHxS or its salts and 1 mg/kg for the sum of PFHxS-related compounds (points 1 and 2). The entries on tetra-, penta-, hexa-, hepta- and decaBDE set a sum of 10 mg/kg in mixtures or articles other than food contact materials, allow electrical and electronic equipment within the scope of the RoHS Directive by derogation, and set higher, falling values for articles made of recovered material and for toys and childcare products made of it. SCCPs are allowed in articles below 0.15 % by weight. Some entries tighten on fixed dates, such as UV-328 (100 mg/kg from 4 August 2025, 10 mg/kg from 4 August 2027, 1 mg/kg from 4 August 2029) and Dechlorane Plus (1 000 mg/kg until 15 April 2028, then 1 mg/kg). Several entries also allow named uses until set dates, for example in aircraft or vehicle parts.",
      "sources": [
        1
      ]
    },
    {
      "text": "The list moves. The Commission adopts delegated acts to amend Annexes I, II and III, with a separate act for each substance (Article 15(1)). For a substance added after 15 July 2019, articles produced before or on the date the Regulation becomes applicable to it get a six-month period, and articles already in use on that date remain allowed (Article 4(2)). Member States set the penalties (Article 14). A compliance file for POPs is therefore a dated record: which entries, which limits, which supplier statements and which tests.",
      "sources": [
        1
      ]
    },
    {
      "text": "The limits do not replace the general safety duties. For everyday consumer articles without a product-specific harmonisation act, the POPs limits apply alongside the General Product Safety Regulation, Regulation (EU) 2023/988, so manufacturers and importers follow both: the limits, and the GPSR's risk analysis, technical documentation, identification and address duties (Articles 9 and 11).",
      "sources": [
        3
      ]
    }
  ],
  "steps": [
    {
      "name": "Know what the list covers",
      "text": "Annex I lists the substances whose manufacture, placing on the market and use are prohibited, on their own, in mixtures or in articles. Annex II lists restricted substances. The Commission amends the annexes by delegated acts, one act per substance, so the list is not fixed.",
      "item": "regulation-library"
    },
    {
      "name": "Ask suppliers material by material",
      "text": "Send each supplier the current Annex I names for the materials they deliver, such as plastics, foams, coatings and textiles, and ask for a written statement per material. Ask in particular whether recovered or recycled material is used, because some entries set separate limits for it."
    },
    {
      "name": "Compare results with the entry limits",
      "text": "An Annex I substance is only tolerated where it is an unintentional trace contaminant, at or below the value set in its own entry. Examples: 0.025 mg/kg for PFOA or its salts, and for PFHxS or its salts, and 10 mg/kg for the sum of tetra-, penta-, hexa-, hepta- and decaBDE in mixtures or articles other than food contact materials.",
      "item": "knowledge-articles"
    },
    {
      "name": "Mark the dates that tighten",
      "text": "Several limits fall over time. UV-328 is tolerated up to 100 mg/kg from 4 August 2025, 10 mg/kg from 4 August 2027 and 1 mg/kg from 4 August 2029. Dechlorane Plus up to 1 000 mg/kg until 15 April 2028, then 1 mg/kg. Plan supplier changes and retests before those dates."
    },
    {
      "name": "Keep the evidence and recheck on each change",
      "text": "File the supplier statements and test reports per product and material. When an entry is added or amended, check your range again; for a newly added substance, articles produced before the date it applies get only a six-month period."
    }
  ],
  "documents": [
    {
      "name": "Supplier statements on Annex I substances per material",
      "from": "Your suppliers",
      "ground": "Regulation (EU) 2019/1021 Article 3(1) and Annex I"
    },
    {
      "name": "Test reports for materials at risk, compared with the entry limits",
      "from": "A laboratory",
      "ground": "Regulation (EU) 2019/1021 Article 4(1)(b) and Annex I"
    },
    {
      "name": "A dated list of the Annex I entries and limits you checked against",
      "from": "Your own compliance file",
      "ground": "Regulation (EU) 2019/1021 Article 15(1)"
    }
  ],
  "risks": [
    {
      "title": "The ban covers articles",
      "text": "The manufacturing, placing on the market and use of substances listed in Annex I, whether on their own, in mixtures or in articles, is prohibited, subject to the exemptions in Article 4 (Regulation (EU) 2019/1021 Article 3(1)).",
      "source": 1
    },
    {
      "title": "Only a short period for articles made before a new listing",
      "text": "For a substance added to Annex I or II after 15 July 2019, the prohibition does not apply for six months to the substance in articles produced before or on the date the Regulation becomes applicable to it (Regulation (EU) 2019/1021 Article 4(2)).",
      "source": 1
    },
    {
      "title": "Penalties are set nationally",
      "text": "Member States lay down the rules on penalties for infringements, which must be effective, proportionate and dissuasive (Regulation (EU) 2019/1021 Article 14).",
      "source": 1
    }
  ],
  "faq": [
    {
      "q": "What is an unintentional trace contaminant?",
      "a": "A level of a substance that is incidentally present in a minimal amount, below which the substance cannot be meaningfully used, and above the detection limit of existing methods (Regulation (EU) 2019/1021 Article 2(12)). The tolerated level is set in each Annex I entry."
    },
    {
      "q": "Does recycled plastic get a higher limit for brominated flame retardants?",
      "a": "For mixtures or articles containing or made of recovered material with these PBDEs, the sum limit is 500 mg/kg, 350 mg/kg from 30 December 2025 and 200 mg/kg from 30 December 2027. For toys and childcare products made of it, it falls to 10 mg/kg from 17 May 2027. These values do not cover food contact materials under Regulation (EC) No 1935/2004 (Annex I, PBDE entries, point 2)."
    },
    {
      "q": "Do the PBDE limits apply to electrical equipment?",
      "a": "No. The PBDE entries allow the manufacturing, placing on the market and use of electrical and electronic equipment within the scope of Directive 2011/65/EU by way of derogation (Regulation (EU) 2019/1021 Annex I, PBDE entries, point 3). For that equipment the RoHS limit for PBDE in Annex II to Directive 2011/65/EU applies."
    },
    {
      "q": "Are short-chain chlorinated paraffins allowed in articles?",
      "a": "Articles containing SCCPs in concentrations lower than 0.15 % by weight are allowed by way of derogation (Regulation (EU) 2019/1021 Annex I, SCCP entry, point 1)."
    },
    {
      "q": "How does this relate to REACH?",
      "a": "The POPs Regulation uses REACH definitions for article, substance, mixture and placing on the market (Regulation (EU) 2019/1021 Article 2). It is a separate act: a REACH or RoHS statement does not answer a POPs question."
    }
  ],
  "sources": [
    {
      "title": "Regulation (EU) 2019/1021 on persistent organic pollutants (consolidated text of 30 September 2026)",
      "publisher": "EUR-Lex",
      "url": "https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX:02019R1021-20260930",
      "accessed": "2026-10-04"
    },
    {
      "title": "Regulation (EC) No 1907/2006 (REACH) (consolidated text of 22 June 2026)",
      "publisher": "EUR-Lex",
      "url": "https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX:02006R1907-20260622",
      "accessed": "2026-10-04"
    },
    {
      "title": "Regulation (EU) 2023/988 on general product safety (consolidated text of 29 May 2026)",
      "publisher": "EUR-Lex",
      "url": "https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX:02023R0988-20260529",
      "accessed": "2026-10-05"
    }
  ],
  "related": [
    "reach-svhc-question",
    "rohs-substances",
    "supplier-material-data",
    "new-regulation",
    "due-diligence-buyer"
  ],
  "reviewer": "Conphora compliance team",
  "reviewedAt": "2026-10-05",
  "notice": "General information, not legal advice."
}