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If you manufacture or sell electronics in the EU, Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) are a legal threat hiding in your supply chain.
These chemicals don’t degrade. They accumulate in ecosystems, magnify through the food chain, and are tightly regulated worldwide, especially under Regulation (EU) 2019/1021. Whether they’re present intentionally or as trace by-products, they can block market access, trigger enforcement, or contaminate your entire product line.
What Are POPs and Why Should You Care?
POPs — Persistent Organic Pollutants are highly toxic chemicals that:
- Don’t break down naturally
- Travel long distances through air, water, and trade
- Accumulate in animals, humans, and entire ecosystems
They’re found in pesticides, flame retardants, plasticizers, industrial by-products — even in coatings and circuit boards.
For manufacturers, POPs aren’t just an environmental issue — they’re a regulatory red flag. If you don’t know what’s in your bill of materials (BOM), you could be non-compliant and not even know it.
Global Governance: The Stockholm Convention
The Stockholm Convention (2001) is the global treaty designed to eliminate or restrict POPs. It requires signatory countries to:
- Phase out listed POPs from production and use
- Control POPs waste and contaminated materials
- Monitor and reduce unintentional by-products (such as dioxins)
It created the foundation for stricter regional laws, including what’s now binding in the EU.
The EU POPs Regulation (EU) 2019/1021
The EU enforces the Stockholm Convention through Regulation (EU) 2019/1021, which mandates:
- Ban or restriction of POPs from being placed on the EU market
- Proper disposal and treatment of POPs-containing materials and stockpiles
- Controls on the unintentional POPs formation in manufacturing
- Documentation and traceability requirements throughout the supply chain
If you make or sell products into Europe, especially in electronics, plastics, coatings, or textiles, this regulation applies to you.
Examples of Regulated POPs
Some of the most common and highly regulated POPs include:
- DDT — Pesticide banned in most countries
- Polychlorinated Biphenyls (PCBs) — Found in old electrical equipment
- Dioxins and Furans — By-products of industrial combustion and chemical manufacturing
- PFHxS and related substances — Recently added under the EU POPs recast
Even trace contamination can result in non-compliance.
What You Should Be Doing Right Now
To stay compliant, you should be able to answer:
- Do any of our materials contain substances listed under Annex I of the EU POPs Regulation?
- Do we have supplier declarations or full material disclosures covering POPs?
- Are we following Annex IV and V for proper disposal thresholds and documentation?
If you can’t answer these, you may already be at risk.
The Acquis Advantage
Acquis helps manufacturers proactively manage POPs compliance through:
- Automated screening of BOMs, parts, and supplier declarations
- Real-time updates on substance lists and regulatory changes
- Audit-ready reporting aligned with EU POPs, REACH, RoHS, and TSCA
- Supplier engagement workflows to reduce manual follow-ups
If you're trying to move fast, stay compliant, and scale across global markets, we’ve built the system for you.
Risk Delayed is Risk Multiplied
The electronics industry is under growing pressure to meet environmental and human health standards. POPs are one of the most strictly enforced chemical classes globally, and the EU leads the charge.
If you aren’t screening for them, regulators will.
Acquis helps electronics manufacturers screen, track, and stay ahead of POPs regulation across every region, supplier, and material.
Schedule a compliance risk check with our team today.
Let’s get your supply chain clean before regulators do it for you.