PFAS are measured in two different ways at OEKO-TEX®. First, our laboratories are testing for specific, legally restricted PFAS such as PFOA and PFOS. Second, a general test for all PFAS has been put into place at OEKO-TEX®, recently. All PFAS chemicals contain fluorine which can be detected via a lab test called “total fluorine (TF) test”. This is why we recently introduced a limit value for total fluorine as an indicator for the presence of PFAS. At OEKO-TEX®, our goal is to strictly prevent the intentional use of PFAS. The TF limit value is tested for all types of OEKO-TEX® certificates and is compliant with the latest international regulations. However, this TF test also measures fluorine present in non-PFAS sources such as fluorine-based dyes, which are not considered a threat to human health or the environment. The goal of this TF limit value is not to forbid the use of all fluorine sources in textiles, but rather to ban the intentional use of PFAS.

The limit & threshold values of the OEKO-TEX® ECO PASSPORT are compliant with the relevant entries of appendix XVII and appendix XIV of the Regulation (EC) No 1907/2006 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 18 December 2006 concerning the Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals (REACH) . All substances with textile and leather relevance from European Chemical Agency’s candidate list of substances of very high concern (SVHC) are covered by the OEKO-TEX® ECO PASSPORT and are thus ensuring that no communication duties are necessary along the supply chain regarding the SVHC substances. Compliance is also insured with the regulation (EU) 2019/1021 of the European parliament and of the council of 20 June 2019 on persistent organic pollutants (POPs regulation) . Furthermore OEKO-TEX® ECO PASSPORT is recognized by ZDHC and is compliant with the newest MRSL and guidelines for levels 1-3 Lastly, the OEKO-TEX® team is regularly monitoring the AFIRM (Apparel and Footwear International RSL (Restricted substance list) Management Group), as well as other relevant legal regulations and stakeholder MRSL/RSL lists.