According to the Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) Regulation, Art. 3(1), the manufacture, placing on the market, and use of substances listed in Annex I are prohibited, whether as substances, in mixtures, or in articles, unless a specific exemption is provided in Annex I or the exclusion under Art. 4(1) applies as follows:

• (a) The substance is used for laboratory-scale research or as a reference standard.
• (b) The substance is present as an unintentional trace contaminant as specified in the relevant Annex I entry.

According to Art. 2(12), an unintentional trace contaminant is defined as a “substance that is incidentally present,” whose concentration is so low that it cannot be meaningfully used and is above the detection limit of existing analytical methods for the purpose of control and enforcement. Therefore, the exemption under Art. 4(1)(b) does not apply to substances intentionally added during production.

According to Art. 7(3), disposal or recovery operations that may lead to the recovery, recycling, reclamation, or reuse of substances listed in Annex IV are prohibited, regardless of whether exemptions for manufacture, placing on the market, or use are provided in Annex I.

The substances covered under this entry are those described in column 1 of Annex I:

• Perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), including any of its branched isomers;
• Salts of PFOA;
• PFOA-related compounds, which under the Stockholm Convention refer to any substance that can degrade to PFOA, including any substance (including salts and polymers) having a structural element with a linear or branched perfluoroheptyl group (C7F15-C).

The following compounds are NOT considered PFOA-related compounds:

• C8F17-X, where X = F, Cl, Br;
• Fluoropolymers covered by CF3[CF2]n-R’, where R’ = any group and n > 16;
• Perfluoroalkyl carboxylic acids with ≥ 8 perfluorinated carbons (including their salts, esters, halides, and anhydrides);
• Perfluoroalkane sulfonic acids and phosphonic acids (including their salts, esters, halides, and anhydrides) with ≥ 9 perfluorinated carbons;
• Perfluorooctane sulfonic acid (PFOS) and its derivatives, which are listed separately in Annex I.

This definition covers any substance containing the perfluorooctane sulfonic moiety (C8F17SO2) that may degrade in the environment to the anion C8F17SO3−. These substances include the acid form of PFOS, its metal salts, halides, and amides. Polymers containing the PFOS moiety are also included within the scope of this entry.