Acceptable Purposes: PFOS, its salts and PFOSF

Register of Acceptable Purposes on PFOS, its salts and PFOSF pursuant to paragraph 1 of part III of annex B of the Stockholm Convention

By decision SC-9/4, the Conference of the Parties decided to amend Annex B with a new listing, which includes amended specific exemptions and acceptable purposes for perfluorooctane sulfonic acid (PFOS), its salts and perfluorooctane sulfonyl fluoride (PFOSF). These amendments entered into force on 3 December 2020, on expiry of one year from the date of communication by the depositary of the adoption of the amendment, for all Parties that have not submitted a notification of non-acceptance according to paragraph 3 (b) of Article 22. For those Parties that made a declaration pursuant to paragraph 4 of Article 25, the amendment will enter into force on the ninetieth day after deposit of its instrument of ratification, acceptance, approval or accession.

Perfluorooctane sulfonic acid (CAS No 1763-23-1), its salts and perfluorooctane sulfonyl fluoride (CAS No 307-35-7)

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Acceptable purposes under amendment decision SC-9/4 (from 3 December 2020 onwards)

Party Production notifications
(x=received)		 Use
notifications
(x=received)		 Acceptable purpose activities Chemical name 
of the precursor
(if relevant)		 Date of notification Remarks
Ongoing Planned Ongoing Planned
Argentina  - -  X -  •  Insect baits with sulfluramid (CAS No. 4151-50-2) as an active ingredient for control of leaf cutting ants from Atta spp. and Acromyrmex spp. for agricultural use only. Perfluorooctane sulfonic acid (CAS No. 1763-23-1), its salts and perfluorooctane sulphonyl fluoride (CAS No. 307-35-7)  29/05/2023 SENASA has reported that no replacements are available for this use and that several products formulated with this active ingredient are registered and approved under the National Register of Plant Therapeutics. The active ingredient is imported and then formulated for use. It shall only be used for the control of leaf-cutting ants from Atta spp. and Acromyrmex spp. in agricultural production.

Note by Secretariat: 
Informal translation on registration; original received in Spanish.
Brazil  - From September 2020  X -  •  Insect baits with sulfluramid (CAS No. 4151-50-2) as an active ingredient for control of leaf cutting ants from Atta spp. and Acromyrmex spp. for agricultural use only. Perfluorooctane sulphonyl fluoride (PFOS-F) (CAS No. 307-35-7)  27/11/2020 Used as an intermediate in the production of insect baits with sulfluramid for the control of leaf-cutting ants from Atta spp. and Acromyrmex spp. for agricultural use only.
Costa Rica  - -  X -  •  Insect baits with sulfluramid (CAS No. 4151-50-2) as an active ingredient for control of leaf cutting ants from Atta spp. and Acromyrmex spp. for agricultural use only. Commercial name of pesticides registered in Costa Rica with sulfluramid as an active ingredient (IAGT) to date:
1) Mart Drim 0.3 GB and Disa Drim 0.3 GB
2) Mirex-S 0.3 GB 		 22/11/2023 Under Costa Rican regulations, each pesticide needs to be registered for each concentration, type of formulation, place of origin, formulator or manufacturer, and only pesticides with a current registered number are allowed to enter the country. To date, there are only two pesticides formulated with this active ingredient currently registered.

Note by Secretariat: 
Informal translation on registration; original received in Spanish.
Viet Nam  - -  X -  •  Insect baits with sulfluramid (CAS No. 4151-50-2) as an active ingredient for control of leaf cutting ants from Atta spp. and Acromyrmex spp. for agricultural use only. N-Ethylperfluorooctane-1-sulfonamide (CAS No. 4151-50-2)  30/08/2022 Since 2020, Viet Nam has internalized the requirements on POPs management of the Stockholm Convention in Viet Nam's environmental protection legislation.

The PFOS management has been regulated under the Law on Environmental Protection 2020 and the Decree No. 08/2022/ND-CP dated 10th January 2022 of the Government guiding the implementation of the Law on Environmental Protection 2020 that purpose is to protect human health and the environment from POPs’ adverse impact.

Besides, Viet Nam has regulated and implemented to control and monitor for the PFOS and articles, products, equipment containing PFOS under the Circular No. 10/2021/TT-BTNMT dated 30th June 2021 of the Minister of National Resources and Environment on environmental monitoring techniques and management of environmental quality monitoring information and data, including the techniques for monitoring of the POPs (including 12 old POPs and 18 new POPs, covering PFOS) in the environment components and in articles, products, commodities and equipment.

At this time, Viet Nam is developing the draft National Technical Regulation on thresholds for POPs in articles, products, commodities and equipment aims to inspect and assess the quality of articles, products, commodities and equipment containing POPs, including PFOS.

Viet Nam will continue to investigate, inventory, monitor, inspect and assess the PFOS and articles, products, commodities and equipment containing PFOS in conformity with the requirements of the Stockholm Convention in upcoming time.
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Acceptable purposes under decision SC-4/17 (status until 3 December 2020)

Party Production notifications
(x=received)		 Use
notifications
(x=received)		 Acceptable purpose activities Chemical name 
of the precursor
(if relevant)		 Date of notification Remarks
Ongoing Planned Ongoing Planned
Canada      X  10/12/2010 • Photo-imaging 
• Photo-resist and anti-reflective coatings for semi-conductors
• Etching agent for compound semi-conductors and ceramic filters 
• Aviation hydraulic fluids 
• Metal plating (hard metal plating) only in closed-loop systems 
• Fire-fighting foam 
 		   21/12/2010  
China, People’s Republic of  X    X   • Photo-imaging 
• Photo-resist and anti-reflective coatings for semi-conductors
• Etching agent for compound semi-conductors and ceramic filters 
• Aviation hydraulic fluids 
• Metal plating (hard metal plating) only in closed-loop systems 
• Certain medical devices (such as ethylene tetrafluoroethylene copolymer (ETFE) layers and radio-opaque ETFE production, in-vitro diagnostic medical devices, and CCD colour filters)
• Fire-fighting foam  		   18/03/2014 Applicable to Hong Kong SAR and Macau SAR of China
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Archived acceptable purposes (Parties for which amendment entered into force)

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Withdrawal from the PFOS Register