Switzerland Regulates Three POP Chemicals

SafeGuardSHardgoods, Personal and Protective Equipment, Softlines, Automotive, Cosmetics & Personal Care, Electrical & Electronics, Toys and Juvenile ProductsMay 20, 2025

SG 064/25

Switzerland prohibits the production and use of three persistent organic pollutants (POP) chemicals. These prohibitions took effect in February 2025.

In 2023, members of the Eleventh Meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Stockholm Convention (SC COP-11) on POP agreed to, among other things, list methoxychlor (a pesticide, SC 11/9,), dechlorane plus (a flame retardant, SC 11/10) and UV-328 (an UV-absorber, SC 11/11,) under Annex A to the Convention for elimination.

In Switzerland, the production and use of persistent organic pollutants (POP) are regulated under the nation’s Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants (POP Convention, RS/SR 0.814.03, in French, German or Italian).

In April 2025, Switzerland published RO 2025 244 (version in French, German or Italian) to add methoxychlor, dechlorane plus and UV-328 to the list of substances for elimination in Part I of Appendix A to the nation’s POP Convention.

Highlights of RO 2025 244 in relation to these three POP and their uses are summarized in Tables 1 and 2, respectively.

Substance (CAS)	Scope	Requirement	Effective date
Dechlorane Plus (CAS 13560-89-9), including its syn- (CAS 135821-03-3) and anti-isomers (CAS 135821-74-8)	Production	Prohibited	February 26, 2025
	Use	Prohibited¹, ²	February 26, 2025
Methoxychlor (any possible isomer of dimethoxydiphenyltrichloroethane or any combination thereof)	Production Use	Prohibited	February 26, 2025
UV-328 (CAS 25973-55-1)	Production	Prohibited	February 26, 2025
UV-328 (CAS 25973-55-1)	Use	Prohibited², ³	February 26, 2025
¹ Contains derogations, including but not limited to, medical imaging and radiotherapy equipment and facilities ² Contains time-limited derogations for several specific uses ³ Contains derogations, including but not limited to, a) motor vehicle parts, b) industrial coatings for automobiles, civil engineering machinery and rail transport vehicles and high-strength coatings for large steel structures, c) triacetyl cellulose film in polarizers and d) photographic paper

Table 1

Substance	Applications
Dechlorane Plus	Cables and wires in motor vehicles Consumer electronics Electrical and electronic equipment (EEE) Flame retardant in adhesives, polymers and sealants Marine, garden, forestry, agriculture and construction machinery Medical and radiotherapy applications
Methoxychlor	Organochlorine pesticide, which has historically been used as an insecticide in agricultural and veterinary settings, as well as in the domestic environment
UV-328	Additive in plastics, printing inks and rubber for outdoor furniture, construction materials, wood products and the non-food contact layer of food packaging Applications in leather and textiles Automotive coatings, paints, plastics, rubber and sealants Automotive fluids, including cooling and hydraulic liquids and lubricants in motor oil Ultra-violet (UV) absorber to protect materials against discoloration and degradation under UV light (sunlight)

Table 2. Uses of methoxychlor, dechlorane plus and UV-328

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