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Chapter 90: Products Containing Perfluoroalkyl and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances  
 
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 Chapter 90: Products Containing Perfluoroalkyl and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances 
 
SUMMARY: This Chapter details the notification requirements and sales prohibitions for 
new products and product components containing intentionally added Perfluoroalkyl and 
Polyfluoroalkyl Substances (PFAS) pursuant to 38 M.R.S. §1614.  
 
1. Applicability. This Chapter applies to all new products and product components sold, offered for 
sale, or distributed for sale in the State of Maine which contain intentionally added perfluoroalkyl and 
polyfluoroalkyl substances.  
 
2. Definitions.  
 
A. Alternative. “Alternative” means a substance or chemical that, when used in place of PFAS, 
results in a functionally equivalent product and that, when compared to a PFAS that it could 
replace, would reduce the potential for harm to human health or the environment, or has not been 
shown to pose the same or greater potential for harm to human health or the environment as that 
PFAS. Alternatives include reformulated versions of products, including versions reformulated by 
removal or addition of one or more chemicals or substances, that result in the reduction or 
removal of intentionally added PFAS from the product. Alternatives also include changes to the 
manufacturing process that result in the reduction or removal of PFAS from a product. 
 
B. Brand name. “Brand name” means a name, symbol, word, or mark that identifies a product, and 
attributes the product to the owner of the brand.  
 
C. Carpet or rug. “Carpet or rug” means any consumer product made from natural or synthetic 
fabric marketed or intended to be used as a floor covering inside commercial, industrial, or 
residential buildings. This includes carpeted door mats intended for indoor use.  
 
D. Commercially available analytical method. “Commercially available analytical method” means 
any test methodology used by a laboratory that performs analyses or tests for third parties to 
determine the concentration of PFAS in a product. Commercially available analytical methods do 
not need to be performed at a third-party laboratory; however, the method must remain 
unmodified when not performed by a third-party laboratory. Commercially available analytical 
methods include methods approved by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) when 
used in accordance with that approval. 
 
NOTE:  Information about EPA approved methods is available at 
https://www.epa.gov/measurements-modeling/collection-methods . 
 
E. Consumer. “Consumer” means any person who purchases goods or services which are sold by 
manufacturers, wholesalers, or retailers. 
 
F. Currently unavoidable use.  “Currently unavoidable use” means a use of PFAS that the 
Department has determined by rulemaking to be essential for health, safety or the functioning of 
society and for which alternatives are not reasonably available.  
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 G. Department. “Department” means the Department of Environmental Protection composed of the 
Board of Environmental Protection and the Commissioner of the Department of Environmental 
Protection. 
 
H. Distribute for sale. “Distribute for sale” means to ship or otherwise transport a product with the 
intent or understanding that it will be sold or offered for sale by a receiving party subsequent to 
its delivery. 
 
I. Essential for Health, Safety, or the Functioning of Society. “Essential for Health, Safety or the 
Functioning of Society” means products or product components that if unavailable would result 
in a significant increase in negative healthcare outcomes, an inability to mitigate significant risks 
to human health or the environment, or significantly interrupt the daily functions on which 
society relies. Products or product components that are Essential for Health, Safety or the 
Functioning of Society include those that are required by federal or state laws and regulations. 
Essential for the Functioning of Society includes but is not limited to climate mitigation, critical 
infrastructure, delivery of medicine, lifesaving equipment, public transport, and construction.  
 
J. Fabric. “Fabric” means a textile made by weaving, knitting, or felting natural or synthetic fibers. 
For the purposes of this rule, fabric includes leather and synthetic leather. 
 
K. Fabric treatment. “ Fabric treatment” means a consumer product intended to be applied to fabric 
to give or enhance one or more characteristics, including but not limited to stain resistance or 
water resistance. Fabric treatments do not include fabric dyes. 
 
L. Fully fluorinated carbon atom. “Fully fluorinated carbon atom” means a carbon atom on which 
all the hydrogen substituents have been replaced by fluorine. 
 
M. Intentionally added PFAS.  “Intentionally added PFAS” means PFAS added to a product or one 
of its product components in order to provide a specific characteristic, appearance, or quality or to 
perform a specific function. Intentionally added PFAS also includes any degradation byproducts 
of PFAS serving a functional purpose or technical effect within the product or its components. 
Products containing intentionally added PFAS include products that consist solely of PFAS. 
Intentionally added PFAS does not include PFAS that is present in the final product as a 
contaminant. 
 
N. Manufacturer. “ Manufacturer” means the person that manufactures a product or whose brand 
name is legally affixed to the product. In the case of a product that is imported into the United 
States where the person that manufactured or assembled the product or whose brand name is 
affixed to the product does not have a presence in the United States, manufacturer includes either 
the importer or the first domestic distributor of the product, whichever is first to sell, offer for 
sale, or distribute for sale the product in the State of Maine. 
 
NOTE: Certain online retail platforms may allow for purchase of products directly from a 
producer. When no other person meets the definition of manufacturer under this Chapter, 
and the product is sold, offered for sale, or distributed for sale in the State of Maine, the 
Department will consider the importer to be the manufacturer. 
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 NOTE: When it is possible to consider both entities the manufacturer, the Department will 
consider the party who controls the formulation of the product and its PFAS content to be 
the manufacturer.    
 
O. Offer for sale. “Offer for sale” means to make a product available for purchase, including 
through online sales platforms that deliver into the State of Maine. 
 
P. Perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS).  “Perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl 
substances” or “PFAS” means substances that include any member of the class of fluorinated 
organic chemicals containing at least one fully fluorinated carbon atom. 
 
NOTE: The EPA maintains a webpage of chemicals that have been identified as PFAS (available 
at: https://comptox.epa.gov/dashboard/chemical-lists/pfasmaster ) which provides clarity 
on what is considered a PFAS. Any product sold, offered for sale, or distributed for sale 
in the State of Maine which contains intentionally added PFAS must be reported to the 
Department regardless of whether the substance is found on any list. 
 
NOTE: 38 M.R.S. § 1614 requires notification of intentionally added PFAS by CAS number, 
therefore chemicals which do not have CAS numbers assigned are not subject to this 
Chapter. However, chemicals that do have CAS number assigned but are withheld by 
other persons or are otherwise unavailable are subject to this Chapter.  
 
Q. Person. “ Person” means any individual; partnership; corporation; firm; federal, state, or local 
government entity; or public or private organization of any character. 
 
R. Product. “ Product” means an item manufactured, assembled, packaged, or otherwise prepared 
for sale to consumers, including its product components, that is sold or distributed for personal, 
residential, commercial, or industrial use, including for use in making other products. Product 
includes packages, packaging components, and food packaging as defined in 32 M.R.S. § 1732, 
when sold individually or in bulk and not used in marketing, handling, or protecting a product.  
 
S. Product component.  “Product component” means an identifiable part of a product, regardless of 
whether the manufacturer of the product is the manufacturer of the product component. 
 
T. Publicly available. “Publicly available” means information that is lawfully made available to the 
general public from federal, state, or local government records, widely distributed media, or 
disclosures made to the general public that are required by federal, state, or local law. 
 
U. Reasonably available. “Reasonably available” means a PFAS alternative which is readily 
available in sufficient quantity and at a comparable cost to the PFAS it is intended to replace and 
performs as well as or better than PFAS in a specific application of PFAS in a product or product 
component.   
 
V. Significant change. “Significant change” means a change in the composition of a product which 
results in the addition of a specific PFAS; a change in the amount of PFAS of more than a 10% 
increase, above the method variability allowed by the commercially available analytical method 06-096 DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION 
 
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 used, of the concentration that has been reported when compared to the existing notification; or a 
change in responsible official or contact information. 
 
W. Substantially equivalent information.  “Substantially equivalent information” means 
information that the Department can reasonably identify as conveying the same information 
required in Section 3(A). Substantially equivalent information must all be in a single document or 
location. Substantially equivalent information may include an existing notification by a person 
who manufactures a product or product component when the same product or product component 
is offered for sale under multiple brands. 
 
X. Used. “Used” means the condition of a product having been installed, operated, or utilized for its 
intended purpose by at least one owner or operator. Used does not apply to a product that has 
been returned to a retailer or that is otherwise offered for resale without the product having been 
installed, operated, or utilized. 
 
3. Notification. 
 
A. Beginning January 1, 2023, a manufacturer of a product for sale in the State that contains 
intentionally added PFAS shall submit to the Department a notification. This section does not 
apply to used products. 
 
(1) A notification under this section must include: 
 
(a) A brief description of the product, including at minimum;  
 
(i) Global Product Classification (GPC) brick category and code, if available;  
 
(I) If GPC is not applicable to the product or product component, the United States 
International Trade Commission’s Harmonized Tariff System (HTS) or 
 
(II) Unless an alternative category is approved under Subsection C below, if neither 
GPC code nor HTS number is applicable, products or product components must 
be registered individually by name and with sufficient information, such as stock 
keeping unit (SKU), to differentiate them from similar items or items with 
different compositions. 
 
(ii) The general type of the product; and  
 
(iii) Its intended use. 
 
(b) The purpose for which PFAS are used in the product, including PFAS in any product 
component; 
 
(c) The amount of each of the PFAS as a concentration, identified by name and its chemical 
abstracts service (CAS) registry number, of each PFAS in the product or any product 
component reported as an exact quantity determined using commercially available 
analytical methods, or as falling within a range approved by the Department; and 
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 (i) If reporting PFAS as falling within a Department-approved range, found in the 
Department’s online notification system, the manufacturer may rely on calculations 
specific to the inputs and outputs of their manufacturing process or that of a product 
component’s manufacturer to determine the amount of PFAS present.  
 
For product components for which the Department has previously received notifications, 
which are used in more complex products containing the reported components, the 
manufacturer of the more complex product shall either report PFAS in the product 
including its components, or refer to the notifications for product components and any 
PFAS in the remainder of the product.  
 
(d) The name and address of the reporting manufacturer, and the name, address, email 
address, and phone number of a responsible official for the manufacturer. The responsible 
official provided must have the authority to execute or direct others to execute the steps 
in Section 8 below. 
 
NOTE: Claims of confidential business information may be made at the time of 
notification. The Department will handle such claims in accordance with Maine’s 
Freedom of Access Act Title 1, Chapter 13, subchapter 1, M.R.S. and related 
policies and procedures; in particular 1 M.R.S. § 402(3)(B) excludes information 
from public disclosure that the courts would find to be privileged. 
 
For notifications submitted to the Department under the statutory requirement and prior 
to the effective date of this rule and/or the availability of the digital reporting system, the 
notification must be submitted into the digital database within 90 days of the effective 
date of this rule. 
 
(2) Waiver of Notification. The Department may waive all or part of the notification requirement 
under Subsection 1 if the Department determines that substantially equivalent information is 
publicly available, except that the Department will not issue a waiver for the information 
required in Subsection 1(d) above. 
 
(a) The Department will evaluate issuing a waiver to the notification requirement if the 
manufacturer submits a request containing the following: 
 
(i) A description of the product(s) for which a waiver is requested; 
 
(ii) A list of which requirements of Subsection 1 the manufacturer seeks a waiver for; 
 
(iii) A description of any publicly available records which contain information 
substantially equivalent to the information required in Subsection 1, above;  
 
(iv) A statement that information in Subsection 2(a)(iii) above is updated in a similar 
manner as required by Subsection D below and; 
 
(v) A link to or copy of all publicly available substantially equivalent information 
described by the manufacturer.  
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 (b) The manufacturer shall still complete the notification for any requirements that were not 
waived, include directions to where the publicly available substantially equivalent 
information can be found, and pay the fee established in Section 6. 
 
B. The information required in Subsection A above must be submitted in a form approved by the 
Department. Electronic submission of complete information to the Department’s online 
notification system satisfies this requirement. 
 
NOTE: The Department’s online notification system is available at HTTPS://________________. 
 
C. Reporting multiple products or product components together under a single GPC code or HTS 
number under subsection A above is allowed, so long as; 
 
(1) All products to be so reported fall within the same GPC brick code or HTS number,  
 
(2) The same PFAS are present in every product, and 
 
(3) Each PFAS is present in every product, either: 
 
(a) In a substantially similar amount as determined by a commercially available analytical 
method, or 
 
(b)  If reporting by range of concentration is available, within the same concentration range. 
 
If neither a GPC code nor HTS number is applicable to the products or product components a 
manufacturer may, as part of their notification, propose a category for reporting multiple products 
or product components; however, if either are applicable then reporting as a category must be 
done using the GPC code or HTS number. 
 
The Department will review the proposed category to determine its reasonableness and either 
approve or deny the proposed category. During the Department’s review the manufacturer will be 
considered to be in compliance with the requirements of Section 3 provided they have submitted 
all required information. 
 
D. A manufacturer shall update the information in the notification whenever there is a significant 
change in the reported information or when requested to do so by the Department. 
 
(1) In the event of a significant change or request by the Department, a manufacturer shall update 
their notification: 
 
(a) Within 60 days of a request by the Department; 
 
(b) Within 30 days of any change in responsible official or contact information; or 
 
(c) Prior to the start of sales of a product with a new formulation or when there is a 
significant change in the amount or type of PFAS present in the product. The update must 
include the date after which the prior formulation will not be sold, offered for sale, or 
distributed for sale in the State of Maine. 06-096 DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION 
 
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(2) A manufacturer may voluntarily update the notification whenever a PFAS is reduced or 
eliminated, or to inactive status whenever a product is modified such that it no longer 
contains any intentionally added PFAS. 
 
E. If a product is imported directly into the State of Maine from outside the United States to be sold, 
offered for sale, or distributed for sale outside of the sales and distribution channels controlled by 
the manufacturer, and the manufacturer has not submitted notification of the product to the 
Department, it is the responsibility of the person importing the product into the State of Maine to 
submit notification of the product to the Department, as required by Subsection A. 
 
F. A notification is not effective until the Department has received payment of the fee required by 
Section 6. 
 
G. A manufacturer shall provide, upon request by the Department, evidence sufficient to 
demonstrate the accuracy of information reported in Subsection A.  
 
4. Exemptions.  
 
A. The following are exempt from the requirements of this Chapter: 
 
(1) A product for which federal law or regulation controls the presence of PFAS in the product in 
a manner that preempts state authority. For this purpose, the provisions of this Chapter are 
severable, and if any phrase, Section or Subsection is preempted by federal law or regulation, 
the validity of the remainder of this Chapter shall not be affected. 
 
NOTE: Federal preemption involves a determination that the intent of federal laws is to limit or 
eliminate overlapping programs at the state level; the intent can be expressly written into 
the enabling statute or implicit where the structure and scope of the federal law reflects 
the intent to preempt. 
 
 The Department will treat as exempt products where an applicable federal law is written 
with language that explicitly preempts parts of this program. The Department will also 
treat as exempt any products where an applicable opinion from a court having jurisdiction 
in Maine finds that preemption of parts of this program is implied. 
 
In the absence of explicit statutory language or an applicable court finding, the 
Department does not have the authority to independently make a finding of law or accept 
an assertion that implied preemption exists.  
 
 For more information on preemption see: 
https://crsreports.congress.gov/product/pdf/R/R45825/2   
 
(2) A product subject to Title 32, § 26-A, Reduction of Toxics in Packaging, and 
 
(3) A product subject to Title 32, § 26-B, Toxic Chemicals in Food Packaging.  
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 NOTE: The statutory exemption of products subject to Title 32, § 26-A, Reduction of Toxics in 
Packaging,  and Title 32, § 26-B, Toxic Chemicals in Food Packaging , applies to all 
packing, packing components and food packaging as defined in as defined in 32 M.R.S. § 
1732, regardless of whether the Department has specifically regulated such items. 
 
 These exemptions apply only when items are actually used as packaging, packing 
components, or food packing, intended for marketing, handling, or protection of products. 
 
 
5. Prohibition on Sale of Products Containing Intentionally Added PFAS. 
 
A. Effective January 1, 2023, a person may not sell, offer for sale, or distribute for sale in the State 
of Maine a carpet or rug that contains intentionally added PFAS. This prohibition does not apply 
to the sale or resale of a used carpet or rug. 
 
B. Effective January 1, 2023, a person may not sell, offer for sale, or distribute for sale in the State 
of Maine a fabric treatment that contains intentionally added PFAS. This prohibition does not 
apply to the sale or resale of a used fabric treatment or used product to which fabric treatment has 
been applied. 
 
C. Effective January 1, 2030, a person may not sell, offer for sale, or distribute for sale in the State 
of Maine any product that contains intentionally added PFAS. This prohibition does not apply to 
the sale or resale of a used product. 
 
6. Fees. 
 
A. Fee amount.  To cover the administrative costs incurred by the Department to administer the 
program, a manufacturer of products or product components required by Section 3 to provide 
notice shall, as part of submission of notification, pay a fee of $250 covering up to the first three 
notifications submitted under Section 3(A)(1) and an additional $50 for each additional 
notification thereafter.  
 
For the purposes of calculating fees, each submission of all the information required in Section 
3(A)(1), which has not been waived, for either an individual product or product component or a 
group thereof reported as a single category will be considered a separate notification. 
 
NOTE: Notifications are required only for products or product components offered for sale or 
distributed for sale in the State Maine. Product components that are incorporated into a 
complex product which are offered or distributed for sale in Maine are not subject to the 
notification requirement, even when information regarding the product components is 
provided as part of that product’s notification submission. 
 
 A separate notification and fee are only required for product components when they are 
offered or distributed in Maine without being incorporated into a more complex product.  
 
(1) A fee is only required for new notifications of products. No fee is required for notification 
updates or changes to inactive status. 
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 For notifications submitted to the Department under the statutory requirement and prior to the 
effective date of this rule and/or the availability of the digital reporting system, the fee must 
be paid within 90 of days of the effective date of this rule. 
 
B. If paying electronically via the Department’s reporting database, a receipt confirming digital 
payment will be issued. 
 
C. Fees will be considered paid either when funds are transferred to the Treasurer or when a 
confirmation of electronic payment is transmitted. 
 
7. Failure to Provide Notice. 
 
A. Unless granted an extension in accordance with 38 M.R.S. §1614(3) or a waiver in accordance 
with section 3(A)(2) above, a person may not sell, offer for sale, or distribute for sale in the State 
of Maine a product containing intentionally added PFAS if the manufacturer has failed to provide 
the information required under Section 3.  
 
(1) The prohibition in this Section does not apply to a retailer in the State of Maine unless the 
retailer sells, offers for sale, or distributes for sale in the State a product for which the retailer 
has received a notification pursuant to Section 8(A)(2) that the sale of the product is 
prohibited. 
 
(2) The Department may exempt a product from the prohibition under this subsection if the 
Department has determined that the use of PFAS in the product is a currently unavoidable 
use. 
 
NOTE: Violations of this Chapter are subject to the Department’s enforcement authority under 
38. M.R.S. §§ 347-A - 349. The Department’s initial focus will be on encouraging 
voluntary compliance. If a person resists efforts to achieve voluntary compliance the 
Department may take progressive steps to achieve compliance. 
 
8. Certificate of Compliance. 
 
A. If the Department has reason to believe that a product contains intentionally added PFAS and is 
being sold, offered for sale, or distributed for sale in violation of Section 7, the Department may 
direct the manufacturer of the product to, within 30 days: 
 
(1) Provide the Department with certification, on forms provided by the Department, attesting 
that the product does not contain intentionally added PFAS; or 
 
(2) Notify persons who sell, offer for sale, or distribute for sale that product in Maine that the 
sale of that product is prohibited in Maine, and provide the Department with a list of the 
names and addresses of those notified. 
 
AUTHORITY: 38 M.R.S. § 1614 
 
EFFECTIVE DATE: