Taiwan Strengthens the Bans on PFHxS and Related Compounds

By Xunyao Fu, PhD, Regulatory Affairs Lead, Supply Chain team, UL Solutions

In order to comply with the management trend of the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants, Taiwan’s government is strengthening the control of Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances (PFAS).

The Ministry of Environment (MOE) of Taiwan published the latest amendment to the Categories and Management of Handling for Toxic Chemical Substances on April 24, 2024. This amendment added Perfluorohexane sulfonic acid (PFHxS), its salts and PFHxS-related compounds (147 substances in total) to the List of Toxic Chemical Substances as Class 1 Toxic Chemical Substances. Class 1 Toxic Chemical Substances are those chemical substances “that are not prone to decompose in the environment or that pollute the environment or endanger human health due to bioaccumulation, bioconcentration or biotransformation.”

The Categories and Management of Handling for Toxic Chemical Substances already covers four PFAS family of substances as Class 1 Toxic Chemical Substances, including Perfluorooctanesulfonic acid (PFOS), Lithium perfluorooctanesulfonate (PFOS-Li), Perfluorooctanesulfonyl fluoride (PFOSF), and Perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA). The 147 newly added PFHxS family of chemicals,also regulated as Class 1 Toxic Chemical Substances, have the control concentration standard of 0% in a mixture.

Due to the high toxicity, PFHxS, its salts and related compounds are prohibited from being manufactured, imported, sold, or used in Taiwan other than for the purpose of use in research, testing and education.

The amendment came into effect upon its publication.

References

Amendment to the Categories and Management of Handling for Toxic Chemical Substances (in traditional Chinese only)

Categories and Management of Handling for Toxic Chemical Substances (in traditional Chinese only)