PFAS policy is no longer moving in one direction. In Washington, EPA is narrowing and delaying federal requirements. Meanwhile, states and the European Union are widening theirs.
For chemical manufacturers and their downstream customers, the result is not less regulation but more fragmented regulation. And almost every new rule, at every level, asks the same thing first: tell us where the PFAS are.
Below, we look at where each front stands this fall, and what it means for companies that make, use or sell products containing PFAS.
Drinking water: two PFAS kept, four on the way out
EPA is keeping its 4 parts-per-trillion limits for PFOA and PFOS, but proposing to drop the rest of the 2024 drinking water rule. That rule, finalized in April 2024, set enforceable limits for six PFAS, with compliance due by April 2029.
On May 18, 2026, EPA announced two proposed rules:
- Rescission. The first proposal would remove the limits for PFHxS, PFNA, HFPO-DA (GenX) and the Hazard Index mixture that includes PFBS. EPA says it wants to redo the underlying regulatory determinations by the process the Safe Drinking Water Act requires.
- Extension. The second proposal keeps the PFOA and PFOS limits, but lets water systems request two more years to comply, moving the deadline to 2031.
According to a Jones Day analysis, systems at or above 12 ppt that take the extension would have to put interim controls in place. The comment period has closed, and final rules are still pending.
For manufacturers, the signal is mixed. The federal list of regulated PFAS could shrink, as EPA is proposing to narrow the federal drinking-water rule, while PFOA and PFOS would remain regulated. Utilities facing treatment costs remain motivated to pursue upstream dischargers.
TSCA reporting: delayed again, likely narrower, still coming
The federal PFAS reporting rule under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) Section 8(a)(7) now opens no later than January 31, 2027. The rule requires anyone who manufactured or imported PFAS in any year during 2011–2022 to report uses, volumes, exposure and disposal data to EPA. EPA estimates that at least 1,462 PFAS may be covered.
The start date has moved repeatedly: from November 2024, to July 2025, to April 2026. Under an April 13, 2026 final rule, the window now opens 60 days after EPA finalizes its revisions to the rule, or on January 31, 2027, whichever comes first.
Those revisions, proposed in November 2025, would add exemptions the original rule lacked. They include PFAS below a de minimis concentration (0.1% was proposed), imported articles, byproducts, impurities, R&D chemicals and non-isolated intermediates.
The practical point: the exemptions would shrink the reporting universe, but the lookback still covers 2011 through 2022. As Bergeson & Campbell advises, supply-chain due diligence done now is time well spent, whatever the final scope.
States: product bans are here, and the first big disclosure deadline just passed
While federal requirements narrow, state product laws are already in force. Several states added new PFAS obligations in 2026, although the requirements differ sharply—ranging from product bans to labeling and reporting.
- Minnesota is the one to watch this quarter. Under Amara's Law, manufacturers must report intentionally added PFAS in products sold in the state and pay a fee. The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency moved the deadline to September 15, 2026. According to the agency, all information except trade secrets will be public, and a 90-day extension was available upon request submitted by August 16 (pushing compliance to December 14, 2026 for approved applicants).
- Maine now bans intentionally added PFAS in cleaning products, cookware, cosmetics and juvenile products, among others. By 2032, nearly all products with intentionally added PFAS will be barred unless the state finds the use currently unavoidable.
- New Jersey joined in January 2026, enacting its Protecting Against Forever Chemicals Act. Beginning in 2028 it will prohibit intentionally added PFAS in cosmetics, carpets, fabric treatments and food packaging, while requiring disclosures on cookware containing intentionally added PFAS.
The pipeline is deep. MultiState counted nearly 350 PFAS bills across 39 states in 2025 alone. Each state defines categories, deadlines and exemptions a little differently, and that divergence is the real compliance cost.
Europe: a group-wide restriction nears the Commission's desk
The EU's proposed universal PFAS restriction is entering its final scientific stage, with a Commission decision expected in 2027. The proposal, submitted to ECHA in January 2023, would restrict the manufacture, placing on the market and use of PFAS as a class rather than substance by substance.
In March 2026, ECHA's Risk Assessment Committee adopted its final opinion, and its Socio-Economic Analysis Committee released a draft. According to Covington, both committees back a broad restriction but recommend removing or cutting back many of the derogations in the original proposal.
The committees also want more disclosure. Arnold & Porter notes that the risk committee supports extending reporting obligations to importers of PFAS-containing products and requiring emissions reporting to ECHA.
Next steps: the socio-economic committee is expected to finalize its opinion by the end of 2026. An ECHA presentation indicates the Commission will take the final decision in 2027. For US exporters and multinationals, the EU rule may soon matter more than any federal one.
Liability: the Superfund designation survives
The clearest federal signal this year came from the courts, not EPA. On August 18, 2026, the D.C. Circuit denied all petitions challenging EPA's 2024 designation of PFOA and PFOS as hazardous substances under CERCLA, the Superfund law.
That keeps several obligations in place. Snell & Wilmer lists reporting of releases of one pound or more in a 24-hour period, contamination notices when federal agencies sell land, and EPA's power to compel cleanups and pursue cost recovery. The court also stressed that the designation alone does not decide whether any given site needs cleanup or any given party is liable, as Beveridge & Diamond summarizes.
The designation is already being invoked in private CERCLA litigation. In April, a North Carolina utility filed a CERCLA cost-recovery action against DuPont and affiliated entities. Broader PFAS liability is also substantial: in August, a federal court approved New Jersey's settlements with DuPont entities and 3M, valued at about $2.5 billion.
The takeaway: even where rules are being relaxed, liability for legacy PFOA and PFOS is not. It reaches beyond manufacturers to waste handlers, dischargers and property owners, affecting PFAS-related real-estate due diligence.
What it means: PFAS compliance is now an information problem
Read together, these developments point to one conclusion: the hardest part of PFAS compliance is knowing where PFAS are in your portfolio and supply chain.
Across many of these regimes, compliance first depends on knowing where PFAS are present and retaining defensible supporting data. Minnesota wants product-level reports, now. The federal TSCA rule wants a 12-year lookback, opening by January 2027. ECHA's committees want importer and emissions reporting. CERCLA requires release reporting, and cost-recovery claims turn on historical records.
Three practical implications follow:
- Supplier data is the bottleneck. For many companies, supplier data can become the bottleneck. They depend on component and raw-material suppliers, often several tiers back.
- Divergence multiplies the work. A product can be legal in one state, banned in another and reportable in a third. The same product may face different exemptions in the EU. Tracking one jurisdiction at a time no longer scales.
- Federal relief is not a reason to pause. Narrower federal rules do not undo state bans, EU restrictions or Superfund liability. Companies that stop their due diligence now will likely have to restart it under tighter deadlines.
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