SG 051/25
The United Kingdom (UK) has revised its legislation on persistent organic pollutants (POP) for Great Britain. The revisions will become effective on April 1, 2025.
In 2023, the UK Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) consulted over several POP chemicals for Great Britain (SafeGuardS 36/23).
On March 11, 2025, the UK government issued two pieces of legislation to revise its retained Regulation (EU) 2019/1021 on POP, as amended by SI 2020/1358, SI 2022/1293, SI 2023/729 and SI 2023/1217 (SafeGuardS 159/23).
These two new pieces of legislation are:
- The Persistent Organic Pollutants (Amendment) Regulations 2025 (UK SI 2025/296)
- The Persistent Organic Pollutants (Amendment) (No. 2) Regulations 2025 (UK SI 2025/297)
UK SI 2025/296 revises Part I of Annex I to Regulation (EU) 2019/1021 on persistent organic pollutants (POP Recast Regulation, current consolidated version to October 2024) by:
- Introducing an unintentional trace contaminant (UTC) limit value for hexachlorobenzene (HCB) and pentachlorophenol (PCP), its salts and esters, when these are present in substances, mixtures or articles
- Revising several provisions for perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), its salts and PFOA-related compounds under specific exemption on intermediate use or other application
- Adding new entries for dechlorane plus (DP), methoxychlor and UV-328, with a UTC limit value for each POP chemical
Additionally, it brings changes to the waste requirements for several POP chemicals listed in Annexes IV and V to Regulation (EU) 2019/1021.
UK SI 2025/297 amends the entries for DP and UV-328 listed in Part A of Annex I to the POP Recast Regulation by allowing certain time-limited applications for these substances.
Highlights of several important changes in UK SI 2025/296 are summarized in Table 1
| Substance | Scope | Specific exemption on intermediate use or other application | Effective date |
| HCB |
| ≤ 10 mg/kg as UTC | April 1, 2025 |
| PCP, its salts and esters |
| ≤ 5 mg/kg as UTC | April 1, 2025 |
| DP, including its syn- and anti-isomers¹ |
| ≤ 10 mg/kg as UTC | April 1, 2025 |
| Methoxychlor |
| ≤ 0.01 mg/kg as UTC | April 1, 2025 |
| UV-328¹ |
| ≤ 10 mg/kg as UTC | April 1, 2025 |
| ¹Contains time-limited derogations for certain applications | |||
Table 1. Summary of several changes in UK SI 2025/296
Information on the presence or use of HCB, PCP, DP, methoxychlor and UV-328 in consumer goods are detailed in Table 2
| Substance | Remark |
| HCB | An impurity in some substances, mixtures or articles, including chlorinated solvents, coatings, inks, paints and toners, pesticides, textile and wood applications, as well as plastics (SafeGuardS 133/22) |
| PCP, its salts and esters | An impurity in some articles, including imported textiles and recovered wood chips for the manufacture of wood panels (SafeGuardS 25/21) |
| DP, including its syn- and anti-isomers | Primarily used as a flame retardant in adhesives, sealants and polymers as well as an extreme additive in greases (SafeGuardS 102/24) |
| Methoxychlor | An organochlorine pesticide that has been used as a replacement for its structural analog dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT, SafeGuardS 102/24) |
| UV-328 | A UV absorber to protect surfaces against discoloration and degradation under UV/sunlight, including but not limited to: 1) the automotive industry, 2) liquid crystal panels and meters mounted on vehicles, 3) paints, coatings and sealants, 4) plastics, including in the non-food contact layer of food packaging, 5) printing inks and adhesives in food packaging, and 6) resin for interior and exterior parts of vehicles (SafeGuardS 123/24) |
Table 2.
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