On July 7, 2022, the Central Environment Council under Japanese Ministry of Economy issued a notice that 56 perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA)-related compounds will be designated as Class I Specified Chemical Substances controlled under Chemical Substance Control Law (CSCL) after the public consultation in March 2022 and 4 rounds of discussions within the Council afterwards.The List of Class I Specified Chemical Substances will be updated by the amendment of CSCL Enforcement Ordinance to add the 56 compounds. Public consultations (including domestic consultation and TBT notification) will be conducted later this year, and the amendment will be officially released in 2023.

Perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), its salts, and related compounds were listed in Annex A (Elimination) under the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) in 2019. On April 16, 2021, Japan published the partial revision to CSCL Enforcement Ordinance adding PFOA and its salts into the List of Class I Specified Chemical Substances, which came into force on October 22, 2021. However, the PFOA-related compounds were not included in this revision, thus the upcoming amendment can be regarded as a supplement to the previous one.

Notably, Class I Specified Chemical Substances are the most strictly regulated substances under the CSCL, which are basically prohibited to produce, import and use except for some exempted uses. In addition, officially specified products containing these substances are also prohibited from being imported into Japan.

Two Uses Exempted

As proposed, for these 56 PFOA-related compounds, two uses which cannot be replaced temporarily and are considered not harmful to the environment, will be exempted, including:

• For pharmaceutical manufacturing purposes, produce PFOB using PFOI;
• For invasive and implantable medical device manufacturing purposes, produce PFMA using 8:2FTOH.

Eight Kinds of Products Banned from Import

What’s more, a total of 8 kinds of products containing the 56 compounds will be prohibited from import, including:

1. Floor wax
2. Textile protectant and antifouling agent
3. Water repellent and oil repellent
4. Textile products treated with water and oil repellent
5. Defoamer
6. Laminating agent
7. Coating agent for optical fibre or its surface
8. Fire extinguishers, extinguishing agents for fire extinguishers and foam extinguishing agents

Note: the descriptions of the products are for reference only and may be adjusted when the official document is released.

Reprinted from: ChemLinked

Reference Links

56 Perfluorooctanoic Acid (PFOA)-Related Compounds

Annex A (Elimination) Under the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) in 2019

Japan Passes Partial Revision to Enforcement Ordinance of CSCL, Exercising a Ban on PFOA

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