In Germany, business and employers’ association Südwest Textil Association is requesting a reconsideration of the EU chemicals policy for the future of technical textile production in Europe. The association shares the concerns expressed by the economics ministries of Bavaria and Baden-Württemberg in a letter to EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.

In 2023, the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) published a proposal to restrict over 10,000 per- and polyfluorinated alkyl compounds (PFAS). However, problems with the EU’s regulatory policy have arisen in the textile industry, for example in the case of the compound PFHxA which is affected by the PFAS restriction. According to Südwesttextil, the substance is indispensable in medical textiles such as stents, industrial filters, electrical insulation membranes, protective clothing such as bulletproof vests or cut-resistant trousers , or in the area of mobility in the form of flame retardants or pressure equalization membranes.

According to the association, the practical check also shows that ECHA’s implementation plans, such as the recently published technical guidelines on analytical methods, are far from reality. The required limit values for many related compounds of PFHxA have not yet been measurable, they cannot be legally verified in practice at the momentand there are no test procedures at all for many substances.