European Space Restrictions Task Force kicks off preparations for 2nd consultation response on Universal PFAS

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At its 9th meeting on 5 February 2026 (by WebEx) the European Space Restrictions Task Force (RTF) kicked off its work to prepare for the upcoming European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) consultation on the draft opinion of the Committee for Socio-Economic Analysis (SEAC) on restricting per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) as a group (also called “Universal PFAS” or “UPFAS”) under the EU REACH Regulation.

The meeting gathered a record number of 35 participants from across the space industry, materials suppliers, space agencies, research institutes, the European Defence Agency (EDA) and the Aerospace, Security and Defence Industries Association of Europe (ASD).

The ECHA consultation, which is expected to run for 60 days from March to May 2026, will be the last formal opportunity for stakeholders to contribute to the UPFAS restriction process under EU REACH. Against this background, the RTF 9th meeting focused on discussing the objectives and next steps with a view to the planned 2nd Eurospace (RTF) response.

In addition to UPFAS, the meeting provided updates on the last SEAC-69 meeting in December 2025 and the state of play of various other restriction cases, such as Chrome VI, microplastics, lead metal and persistent organic pollutants.

It was also agreed to merge two other REACH-related task forces into the RTF for better administration: The Space Chromates Task Force (STF) and the Lead metal Task Force (LTF). This process will be completed in the coming weeks.

The next meeting of the RTF is tentatively planned to be held during April 2026. It should focus on working out the 2nd Eurospace (RTF) consultation response to ECHA on UPFAS.

The RTF has been established in 2023 within the European Space Components Coordination (ESCC) system by initiative of the Materials and Processes Technology Board (MPTB), which is currently chaired by the ESA REACH Officer.

The group is an open forum. New participants with a Space Sector interest, including those from outside the MPTB, may be admitted.

Further information:

  • Eurospace news alert of 25 September 2023 on the 1st RTF consultation response on UPFAS to ECHA in 2023, available here
  • Eurospace news alert of 17 December 2025 on the updated summary in different languages to inform about the UPFAS state of play, available here
  • Secretariat: Valentin Marie, Research Analyst & Compliance Manager, ASD-EUROSPACE, valentin.marie@eurospace.org, +33 (0) 7 86 58 74 34
  • RTF Coordinator: Tim Becker, Senior Legal Advisor, REACHLaw Ltd., tim.becker@reachlaw.fi; +358 (0)40 773 8143