ECHA’s spring decisions land on two fronts that touch every analytical-chemistry supplier in the EU. On 4 February 2026, the European Chemicals Agency added n-hexane and bisphenol AF to the REACH Candidate List, bringing the total to 253 substances. On 2 March 2026 the Risk Assessment Committee finalised, and on 26 March 2026 the Socio-Economic Analysis Committee published its draft opinion on, the universal PFAS restriction. The public consultation closes on 25 May 2026.
What ECHA said
n-hexane (CAS 110-54-3, EC 203-777-6) is the first substance recognised as an SVHC on equivalent-level-of-concern grounds for neurotoxicity, rather than the classical CMR endpoints. ECHA records the use pattern as formulation, polymer processing, coatings and cleaning agents. Bisphenol AF and its salts enter the list as toxic for reproduction. Inclusion triggers Article 33 information duties down the supply chain, SCIP notifications for articles, and a six-month window to file the Article 7(2) notification - so 4 August 2026 for these two substances.
For PFAS, the RAC opinion supports a restriction on substances containing at least one fully fluorinated CF3 or CF2 carbon. SEAC’s draft proposes an 18-month transition followed by use-specific derogations of five or twelve years across the 74 categories in the revised dossier, with fluoropolymers explicitly retained inside the scope.
What it changes for analytical suppliers
n-hexane sits in HPLC normal-phase mobile phases, residual-solvent reference methods, lipid extraction protocols and a long tail of QC procedures. SVHC status forces a safety-data-sheet refresh and customer notification immediately, and starts the clock on a possible move to the Authorisation list. Pharmacopoeial heptane substitution, already permitted in several monographs, gets a fresh push. On the PFAS side, suppliers of PTFE and PFA tubing, filter housings, gaskets, and reagents such as trifluoroacetic acid, hexafluoroisopropanol and pentafluoropropanol need to map their portfolios against the draft derogation list before 25 May. Scientific research and development below one tonne per year remains exempt under Article 67(1) of REACH, but routine analytical use does not benefit from that carve-out. The work needed for chemometric-model validation under GMP and for the ICH Q14 method-development tracker will, for affected methods, now include a documented reagent-substitution plan.