“Companies in Sweden must start providing information on the presence of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) when notifying products to the national products register from 1 January 2019.

From that date, as per the amended regulation, they will have until the end of February 2020 to notify the manufactured quantities for the previous year, the Swedish chemicals agency, Kemi, said.

The notification of a new product is made once and the company then is obliged to advise the quantities manufactured or sold on a yearly basis.

Companies with annual sales under SEK5m (€474,803) will be exempt from the requirement.

Previously, companies had to provide information on all substances present at levels above 5%, with substances classified as hazardous reported regardless of the level of exposure.

As PFAS are often found in concentrations below 5% – and most of the substances are currently not assessed in terms of hazard – few companies have been obliged to notify the register.

The proposed amended regulation means that companies must also state whether the products contain deliberately added PFAS. This should apply regardless of level but actual content will not be reported, Kemi said.”

Read the full article by ChemicalWatch