From March 1, 2025, EU exporters will face stricter regulations when exporting specific hazardous chemicals. According to the latest decision of the European Commission, 40 new hazardous chemicals have been included in the EU's Prior Informed Consent (PIC) regulation, which requires exporters to notify their export plans.

Of the 40 new chemicals, 35 are pesticides and 5 are industrial chemicals, including abamectin, difenacoum, fenpropimorph, dimethomorph, triadimenol, and penflufen. The addition of these chemicals means that the relevant enterprises must submit detailed export notifications to the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) before exporting in order to comply with regulatory requirements. Most of the added chemicals (38 types) not only require an export notification, but must also obtain explicit consent from the importing country before they can be exported.

In addition, the export requirements for two substances, cyanamide and warfarin, which were already listed in Annex I of the PIC, have also been updated, and after the amendment comes into effect, the export of these two substances will require an additional explicit consent from the importing country on top of the export notification.

In this update, Perfluorohexane Sulfonic Acid (PFHxS), its salts and related compounds, a subgroup of Perfluoro and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances (PFAS), was added to Annex V of the PIC, which is dedicated to the listing of chemicals that are banned for export. This move follows the listing of PFHxS as a persistent organic pollutant (POP) under the Stockholm Convention.

To help companies better adapt to these changes, the European Chemicals Agency's (ECHA) IT tool, ePIC, has been updated accordingly and companies can now effectively notify and manage the export of the additional chemicals through this tool.

The PIC regulation is an important EU regulation used to control trade in hazardous chemicals that are banned or severely restricted within the EU. It sets clear obligations for businesses wishing to export these chemicals to non-EU countries or import them into the EU to ensure that international trade in chemicals takes place within a safe and sustainable framework.

The PIC Annex I, which is updated annually by the European Commission, contains a detailed list of chemicals subject to export notification and explicit consent of the importing country. Currently, the Annex contains 321 entries covering a wide range of chemicals that are potentially hazardous to the environment and health.