New Zealand Bans PFHxS, its Salts and Related Compounds under HSNO Act

Updates: On September 4, 2023, New Zealand officially bans PFHxS, its salts and related compounds under HSNO Act. The decision is made under the Hazardous Substances and New Organisms (Schedules 1AA and 2A) Order 2023 and is set to take effect on October 5, 2023.

Schedule 1AA, Annex A, Part I is amended to insert the following entry:

Chemical	Activity	Specific exemption
Perfluorohexane sulfonic acid (PFHxS), its salts and PFHxS related compounds “Perfluorohexane sulfonic acid (PFHxS), its salts and PFHxS related compounds” means the following: (i) Perfluorohexane sulfonic acid (CAS No. 355-46-4, PFHxS), including branched isomers; (ii) Its salts; (iii) Any substance that contains the chemical moiety C6F13SO2- as one of its structural elements and that potentially degrades to PFHxS.	Production	None
	Use	None

Schedule 2A is amended to insert the following entry:

Substance	Use or storage	Manufacture	Expiry of permitted use or storage
Perfluorohexane sulfonic acid (PFHxS), its salts and PFHxS related compounds “Perfluorohexane sulfonic acid (PFHxS), its salts and PFHxS related compounds” means the following: (i) Perfluorohexane sulfonic acid (CAS No. 355-46-4, PFHxS), including branched isomers; (ii) Its salts; (iii) Any substance that contains the chemical moiety C6F13SO2- as one of its structural elements and that potentially degrades to PFHxS.	/	/	/

On February 20, 2023, New Zealand's Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) opened up a public consultation on banning perfluorohexane sulfonic acid (PFHxS), its salts and related compounds under the Hazardous Substances and New Organisms Act 1996 (HSNO Act). Comments are welcome until April 5, 2023.

In June 2022, PFHxS, its salts and related compounds were listed in Annex A to the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs). Parties are required to eliminate the production, use, import, and export of PFHxS, its salts and related compounds with no specific exemptions.

As a signatory to the Convention, New Zealand proposed to fulfil its obligations to eliminate PFHxS, its salts and related compounds through HSNO Act. As requested, the chemical needs to be added to the HSNO Act under:

Schedule 1AA Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants
Schedule 2A Persistent Organic Pollutants

Under HSNO Act, any POP listed in Schedule 2A are prohibited from being imported into, manufactured, or used in New Zealand (subject to limited exceptions). The prohibition covers both the pure POP chemicals and products and articles containing these chemicals. As scheduled by the Convention, New Zealand are required to list PFHxS, its salts, and related compounds into HSNO Act before November 16, 2023.

It should be noted that New Zealand Inventory of Chemicals (NZIoC) includes listings for some of the PFHxS-related compounds. This suggests the products containing PFHxS-related compounds may have been imported and still used in the manufacture of articles in New Zealand. According to the official source, a Notification of "article in use" for PFHxS will be released to allow continued use of existing "articles in use". It does not allow new articles to be brought into New Zealand or the PFHxS material to be recycled for further use. End-of-life disposal of these articles will be performed in an environmentally sound manner as POPs waste.

The consultation document can be accessed here.

Background

The Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants (Stockholm Convention) is a multilateral environmental agreement limiting the production and use of persistent organic pollutants (POPs). POPs are highly toxic chemicals that persist in the environment, accumulate in human and animal tissues, and are passed from species to species through the food chain.

Every two years, parties to the Stockholm Convention meet to discuss its implementation and, when required, decide if additional POPs should be subject to international regulation by adding them to one or more of the annexes to the Convention. There are mainly three annexes in which chemicals are listed:

Annex A: lists POPs to be eliminated. The obligation is to eliminate production, use, import, and export of the POPs listed, except for any "specific exemptions" permitted by the convention and where a party has registered for those exemptions.
Annex B: lists POPs that are restricted to the uses specified in the annex, and these are referred to as "acceptable purposes". An example is DDT, which is prohibited except for use in disease vector control (for example, mosquitos carrying malaria) in accordance with World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines.
Annex C: lists POPs that are produced and released as unintentional by-products of specific processes. The obligation is for parties to avoid the unintentional production and releases of the listed POPs. An example is dioxins, which are by-products of some industrial processes and from burning certain wastes.

The Stockholm Convention also requires that countries manage any stockpiles and wastes of the POPs listed in these annexes, identify contaminated sites, and remediate these sites in an environmentally sound manner.