International regulations

Brominated flame retardants (BFRS) and the United Nations protocols

Brominated flame retardants (BFRs) are not on the United Nations (UN) ‘Persistent Organic Pollutants’ (POPs) list of substances. None of the mainstream BFRs commercially available in Europe fulfill the criteria for being POP list. Only Penta-BDE, which has been phased out, was considered as a potential candidate.

Under the Kiev Protocol, not yet ratified, PBDEs would be subject to notification for emissions to water and land respectively exceeding 1kg/year per plant. BSEF takes the view that reporting requirements are important for the understanding and tracking of levels of emissions into the environment. However, this threshold of 1kg per industrial plant per year may be discriminating against Brominated Flame Retardants in comparison to other limits set for other chemical substances.