In August 2021, the Canadian government proposed that long-chain perfluorocarboxylic acids (PFCA), their salts and related compounds be considered under the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs). The proposal to list these substances as POPs will be considered at the seventeenth meeting of the Persistent Organic Pollutants Review Committee (POPRC-17) in January 2022.
Long-chain PFCAs and their salts are a homologous series of substances with the molecular formula of CnF2n+1CO2H (where 8 ≤ n ≤ 20). Related compounds are viewed as any substance that is a precursor and may degrade or transform to long-chain PFCAs, where the perfluorinated alkyl moiety has the formula CnF2n+1 (where 8 ≤ n ≤ 20) and is directly bonded to any chemical moiety other than a fluorine, chlorine or bromine atom.
If listed, countries signed up to the treaty would have to prohibit and/or eliminate the production and use, as well as the import and export, of the substances.
For additional information: http://www.pops.int/TheConvention/POPsReviewCommittee/Meetings/POPRC17/Overview/tabid/8900/Default.aspx