Materials & Environmental
Substances and groups restricted under Annex I
Trace limit for chlorpyrifos (added Sep 2026)
Date Regulation (EU) 2019/1021 has applied from
Regulation Overview
The EU POPs Regulation is the EU's framework controlling persistent organic pollutants, chemicals that resist degradation, accumulate through the food chain, and travel long distances from their source. Regulation (EU) 2019/1021 implements the EU's commitments under the Stockholm Convention and the UNECE air pollution Protocol on POPs.
Unlike the global treaty, the EU Regulation carries legally binding provisions for substances, mixtures and articles, including substance-specific UTC limits. For supply chain teams, EU POPs Regulation compliance means proving that listed substances stay below each entry's limit, often in the parts-per-million or parts-per-billion range.
When the Commission adds a substance to Annex I, the obligation reaches the article level inside complex products. New listings require portfolio reassessment, which is why EU POPs compliance depends on current, substance-level supplier evidence rather than year-old declarations.
EU and EEA manufacturers of substances, mixtures and articles containing POPs
Importers placing POP-containing products on the EU market
Distributors and downstream operators across the EU supply chain
Non-EU producers selling into the EU through importers or representatives
Companies assembling complex products from component articles
Waste operators handling POP-containing waste streams
Key Thresholds
The Commission amends Annex I through delegated acts several times a year, each adding substances, limits and phased reductions. A new listing means thousands of parts to reassess, but supplier declarations are a year old and scattered across inboxes. Teams spend weeks finding affected suppliers, then months chasing responses.
UTC limits for PFOA, PFOS and PFHxS sit at 0.025 mg/kg, and chlorpyrifos at 0.01 mg/kg. Confirming compliance at these levels needs substance-level data and, often, test evidence. A generic "RoHS and REACH compliant" statement from a supplier proves nothing about persistent organic pollutants.
Limits change on a schedule. UV-328 steps down from 100 to 10 mg/kg in 2027 and to 1 mg/kg in 2029. Dechlorane Plus drops from 1,000 to 1 mg/kg after April 2028. A product compliant today can breach the same entry later without any change to its bill of materials.
POPs persist in recovered feedstock, and several entries treat recycled content differently from virgin material. Without substance-level BOM mapping and material-origin data, teams cannot tell whether a recycled component carries legacy flame retardants or plasticisers above the applicable limit.
Certivo In Action
Certivo in Action — EU POPs Workflow
Features Tabs
From Data Entry to Exception Management
CORA extracts and validates substance data automatically. Your team reviews the exceptions that need judgment, not every supplier document.
Declarations of Compliance From Validated Data
Generate EU POPs declarations and customer evidence from validated supplier data, with a complete traceable trail behind every claim.
Proactive EU POPs Compliance
When the Commission amends Annex I, Certivo's regulatory intelligence flags the products affected, so you act before customers or auditors do.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the difference between the Stockholm Convention and the EU POPs Regulation?
The Stockholm Convention is an international treaty setting global elimination and restriction goals for POPs. The EU POPs Regulation, Regulation (EU) 2019/1021, is binding EU law that implements the treaty with legally applicable prohibitions, trace limits and exemptions for substances, mixtures and articles on the EU market. Certivo validates products against the EU entries while keeping global obligations in view.
Which products and businesses are subject to the EU POPs Regulation?
Any manufacturer, importer, distributor or downstream operator placing substances, mixtures or articles containing listed POPs on the EU market must comply. The obligation applies at the individual article level inside complex products, not only the finished product. CORA maps substances to parts across multi-tier supply chains so exposure is visible where it actually sits.
What are the trace contaminant limits under Annex I?
Annex I sets substance-specific unintentional trace contaminant limits, from 0.01 mg/kg for chlorpyrifos and methoxychlor and 0.025 mg/kg for PFOA, PFOS and PFHxS, up to 75 mg/kg for HBCDD, with phased reductions for substances such as UV-328 and Dechlorane Plus. Certivo applies each entry's limit to the correct scope automatically.
How are new POP substances and regulatory amendments handled?
The Commission amends Annex I through delegated acts several times a year, each taking effect only if neither Parliament nor Council objects. Certivo's regulatory intelligence and horizon scanning tracks these amendments and flags the products affected by each new listing or phased reduction, so reassessment starts before customer requests arrive.
How can manufacturers manage EU POPs compliance across their products and suppliers?
Manual tracking across thousands of parts and shifting limits does not scale. Certivo automates supplier evidence collection, extracts substances to CAS level, validates against Annex I, and generates declarations of compliance from a centralized compliance data backbone, giving manufacturers continuous compliance monitoring and audit readiness.