The Maine Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) website, updated as of December 29, 2022, now states that packaging for a product subject to the State’s PFAS notification and reporting requirement “is not required to be reported.” Notifications under this law (Public Law c.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has proposed adding per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) subject to reporting under Section 313 of the Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act (also known as the Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) Program) and the Pollution Prevention Act (PPA) to the list of Lower Thresholds for Chemicals of Special Concern. The addition of PFAS to this list would eliminate the use of the de minimis exemption. 

The Maine Department of Environmental Protection (MDEP) has updated its Frequently Asked Questions webpage to clarify the state’s position that food packaging is not exempt from the PFAS reporting requirement under Public Law c. 477, An Act To Stop Perfluoroalkyl and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances Pollution.

One of the requirements imposed by Maine’s Act to Stop Perfluoroalkyl and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances Pollution, which has now been incorporated into 38 M.R.S. §1614, is manufacturers of products with intentionally added per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) must report the presence of PFAS in those products to the Department of Environmental Protection (the Department) beginning January 1, 2023.

U.S. states continue to introduce legislation that would ban food packaging with intentionally added per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS). Two state legislatures that recently introduced bills impacting food packaging containing PFAS are New Jersey and Pennsylvania. (For more information on laws in other states on this topic, see the Packaginglaw.com article, Navigating U.S.

The European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) announced on August 24, 2022, that it is collecting information on polyvinyl chloride (PVC) and PVC additives.

The European Commission (EC) published a recommendation on the monitoring of perfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in food in the Official Journal of the European Union on August 24, 2022.

Washington State’s Department of Ecology (DoE) has released Preliminary Draft Rule Language for a potential new chapter in the Washington Administrative Code on restriction and reporting requirements established during the first implementation cycle of the state’s Safer Products Program.

The European Commission released a “Restrictions roadmap for harmful substances” (“the roadmap”) on April 25, 2022, to support prioritization of harmful chemicals for restrictions under the Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals (REACH) Regulation. The roadmap is a non-legally binding staff working document.

The roadmap’s two main objectives are to: