UK REACH restriction on PFAS in firefighting foam
Overview
On the 05 March 2024, the Secretary of State for the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), with the agreement of the Scottish Government and the Welsh Government, asked the Health and Safety Executive, as the Agency for UK REACH, with the support from the Environment Agency, to prepare an Annex 15 report in respect of a potential restriction on PFAS in firefighting foams (FFF).
Article 69(6) of UK REACH requires HSE to publish proposals for restrictions on its website and undertake a 6-month consultation. This consultation took place between 18 August 2025 and 18 February 2026 with the Annex 15 report being published as part of this consultation. Further information can be found in HSE Registry of restriction intentions.
Article 70 of UK REACH requires HSE to formulate an opinion on the risk assessment, this has now been published.
This opinion was developed after considering the responses from the public consultation on the Annex 15 report and using advice from the REACH Independent Scientific Expert Pool (RISEP).
HSE concludes that a restriction on the placing on the market and use of PFAS in firefighting foams is an appropriate measure to reduce the identified risks to the environment and human health via the environment.
The socioeconomic consultation
Article 71(1) of UK REACH requires HSE to publish the draft socioeconomic opinion on the restriction and invite interested parties to submit comments on this no later than 60-days from the publication of that draft opinion.
Please note that this consultation only seeks information on the socioeconomic factors. Comments on the risk assessment (in particular Sections 2.1 and 4.1 of the Opinion) will not be taken into account
People wishing to submit information during this public consultation are encouraged to submit this as early as possible.
The following documents are attached to the consultation:
- The Agency Opinion
- Background Document
- Annexes to the Background Document
The public consultation lasts for 60 days and closes at 23:59 London time (BST) on 07 September 2026.
Who should respond and how
We welcome responses from all interested parties who can provide relevant information and supporting evidence.
Please read the Agency Opinion and Background Document and provide your comments on the draft SEA Opinion. Where possible, please support your responses with references and reliable data.
Information submitted may be shared with:
- the Environment Agency (as required under Article 2B),
- independent scientific advisers and
- the appropriate authorities (i.e., Defra, the Welsh and Scottish Governments)
However, HSE will process personal data in accordance with GDPR and you will be asked separately to consent to the sharing of personal data with the above parties.
If require a more accessible format of this document, please send details to HSE.Online@hse.gov.uk and your request will be considered.
HSE’s Confidentiality and GDPR statements
Information provided in response to this consultation may be subject to publication or disclosure in accordance with the access to information regimes (these are primarily the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA), the General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR) and the Environmental Information Regulations 2004 (EIR)). Statutory Codes of Practice under the FOIA and EIR also deal with confidentiality obligations, among other things.
If you would like us to treat any of the information you provide as confidential, please make this clear in your response. Ideally, confidential information should be submitted using the functionality provided at the end of the process for attaching confidential documents. If we receive a request under FOIA or EIR for the information you have provided, we will take full account of your explanation, but we cannot give an assurance that confidentiality can be maintained in all circumstances.
An automatic confidentiality disclaimer generated by your IT system will be disregarded for these purposes. Requests for confidentiality should be made explicit within the body of the response.
HSE will process all personal data in accordance with the GDPR. This means that personal data will not normally be disclosed to third parties and any such disclosures will only be made in accordance with the Regulations.
Audiences
- Restriction proposals
Interests
- Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation & restriction of CHemicals (REACH)
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