12 August 2026: PFAS limits in food contact packaging enters force under PPWR Art. 5 (Regulation EU 2025/40). 

For companies placing packaged food on the EU market, this is the immediate hard deadline: food contact packaging containing PFAS above permitted thresholds cannot legally be placed on the EU market from that date. Under REACH, the next major regulatory milestone is the end of 2026, when ECHA's Committee for Socio-Economic Analysis (SEAC) is expected to adopt its final opinion on the universal class-based PFAS restriction covering more than 10,000 substances. That opinion, combined with the RAC final opinion published in March 2026, will be transmitted to the European Commission as the basis for amending REACH Annex XVII. Companies in affected sectors should treat 2026 as the last window to complete substance inventories and assess substitution options before binding restriction timelines are confirmed.