SG 078/25
The United Kingdom (UK) has removed the prohibition of two persistent organic pollutant (POP) chemicals from its retained EU POPs Regulation for Great Britain (England, Wales and Scotland). This came into force on May 21, 2025.
In March 2025, the UK Government amended its retained Regulation (EU) 2019/1021 on persistent organic pollutants (recast) (the ‘POPs Regulation’) for Great Britain (GB) by adding, inter alia, dechlorane plus (DP) and UV-328 under Part A to Annex I of the POPs Regulation. This became effective in April 2025 (SafeGuardS 51/25).
In May 2025, the UK’s Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) issued The Persistent Organic Pollutants (Amendment) (No. 3) Regulations 2025 (UK SI 2025/605) to remove DP and UV-328 from the POPs Regulation for GB.
This amendment was in response to new information from the medical technology (‘MedTech’) sector and to mitigate disruption to healthcare providers, including the National Health Service (NHS), by temporarily removing the ban on the use of DP and UV-328. This action permits many MedTech products to continue to be used in critical applications within the NHS, while the use of these POP chemicals within the MedTech sector is investigated further.
This revision became effective on May 21, 2025 – the day after the day on which the regulations were made.
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