ESTAL participated to the public consultation on the draft opinion of the Socio-Economic Analysis Committee (SEAC) of the EU Chemicals Agency (ECHA) about the PFAS restriction proposal, which closed on 25 May 2026. The proposed PFAS REACH restriction would introduce a general ban on the production, use, and placing on the market of PFAS in the EU.

About ALUMINIUM ANODISING, ESTAL stressed that, contrary to what is assumed in the restriction proposal, PTFE is only applied to anodised aluminium in exceptional cases, when lubricating properties are required, which represents less than 1% of the market. Most anodisers don’t apply PTFE on their products as lubricating properties are not required by the dominant markets: architecture, decorative, industry… By assuming that there would be 300 anodising companies using PTFE in the EEA instead of the only few ones who actually do so, the extrapolation made by the dossier submitters about the quantity of PTFE being used by the sector is largely over-estimated, so that the relevance of a restriction for this use is questionable.

About POWDER COATINGS APPLIED TO ALUMINIUM,  ESTAL indicated that PTFE and other fluoropolymers are used to create high-performance, durable, weather-resistant finishes, and fine textured coatings. As ESTAL members active in powder coating depend on alternative formulations being developed by their powder suppliers, if PFAS could no longer be used before that powder suppliers would be ready with PFAS-free alternatives, ESTAL fear permanent closure of business or parts of it, including relocation outside EU for its members. Next steps are finalization of SEAC opinion, and together with Risk Assessment Committee (RAC) final opinion, forwarding to the European Commission to inform its work on the proposal. The Commission will then publish a draft restriction proposal, for further debate and vote on by the REACH Committee. The restriction will then be adopted by the Commission and transferred to the European Parliament and Council of the EU for scrutiny.