## 5 Governmental Environmental Regulatory Efforts
### European Union Regulatory Efforts  
Within the European Union (EU), the Registration, Evaluation, Authorization, and Restriction of Chemicals (REACH) is a regulation of the EU that provides guidelines to better protect the environment and human health from the dangers of different chemicals [126; 127]. The regulatory organization was implemented in June 2007, and requires manufacturers to register and report the chemicals used in their products. Through the REACH regulation, the EU has the authority to ban any substance that is determined to have unmanageable risk [126]. EU Regulation No. 1907/2006 first established the REACH program, and outlines reporting procedures, safety sheets, and appeal processes for different chemicals listed under different classifications [128]. The list of substances of very high concern (SVHC) includes PFOA (added June 2013), or PFHxS, (added July 2017), and Perfluorobutane sulfonate (PFBS), (added January 2020) [129]. Under EU Regulation No. 440/2008, there are specific testing measures for determining the amount of SVHC in products and manufacturing designed to ensure that manufactures are complying with the guidelines [128]. Similarly, EU Regulation No. 340/2008 outlines fees for non-compliance with REACH standards [128]. PFOS, although not listed as an SVHC, is still a restricted compound under REACH [21]. Some of the most recent legislation from the EU concerning POPs was passed in 2019. EU Regulation No. 2019.1021 was adopted in June 2019 and outlines further restriction and exceptions for manufacturing with PFOS as an addition to the preexisting EU Directive 2006/112/EC from 2006 [130; 131]. The standing legislation from 2006 was based on the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) hazard assessment on PFOS carried out in July of 2002 that deemed the compound to be \"persistent, bioaccumulative, and toxic to mammalian species\" [130]. As a result of this assessment, the EU restricted substances or preparations with a PFOS concentration equal to or higher than 0.005% by mass, semi-finished products with a PFOS concentration equal to or higher than 0.1% by weight, and textiles or other coated materials with the amount of PFOS equal to or higher than 1 mg/m\({}^{2}\) of coated material [130]. Exceptions from the restrictions were granted to photographic coatings on films, paper, or printing plates, and mist suppressants for hard chromium plating and wetting agents for controlled electroplating and hydraulic fluids for aviation; fire-fighting foams placed on the market before December 2006 could be used until June 2011 [130]. The most recent legislation, passed in June of 2019, added additional restrictions to PFOS stockpiles and waste management in addition to allowing more exemptions including the selling of PFOS to labs for research purposes [131]. Member countries must report stockpiles of more than 50 kg PFOS and sets a waste limit of 50 mg/kg PFOS [131]. If the PFOS in waste exceeds this limit, it must be disposed of in such a way that the PFOS is \"destroyed or irreversibly transformed so that the remaining waste releases do not exhibit the characteristics of POPs\" citing the only known way to transform PFOS is through degradation [131]. Across the EU, there is no consistent limit for the amount of PFOS and PFOA in drinking water, although many Member States have set their own limits [132; 133; 134; 135]. Sweden has the most recent drinking water limitations, with recommendations on the management of both drinking water and fish contamination being made in 2014 [135]. The recommendation from the Swedish National Food Agency was the sum of 11 PFAS including perfluorobutanesulfonic acid (PFBS), PFHxS, PFOS, 6:2 fluorotelomersulfonate (6:2 FTS), pentafluorobenzic acid (PFBA), and PFOA, which should not exceed 90 ng/L in drinking water [135].