PFAS25 in the Revised Environmental Quality Standard Directive (EQSD)

The Water Framework Directive (WFD) sets the overarching legislative framework for protecting EU waters and is supported by daughter directives including the EQS directive (EQSD) for surface waters and the Groundwater Directive (GWD) for groundwater. Both the EQSD and GWD require periodic reviews of priority pollutants and quality standards to ensure alignment with scientific developments. The ongoing revision process, initiated with COM(2022) 540 final, proposes expanded pollutant lists, notably incorporating a broad set of PFAS. In this proposal, PFAS moved from a single‑compound focus (previously PFOS) to a comprehensive PFAS24 list. In February 2026, the EU Council formally adopted the revised lists, including PFAS, pharmaceuticals, pesticides and bisphenols, significantly tightening environmental protection standards. These revisions reflect increasing recognition of PFAS pollution as a priority challenge due to their environmental persistence, widespread occurrence, and relevance for both ecological and human health protection. The EU Parliament is expected to cast its final vote on the directive by the end of March.

Subsequent negotiations expanded the list to PFAS25 for surface water with the inclusion of trifluoroacetic acid (TFA). This addition was driven by TFA’s high persistence, widespread occurrence, and multiple emission sources such as PFAS pesticides and fluorinated refrigerant gases. For surface water, the proposed EQS value of PFAS25 is a weighted sum where each PFAS receives a relative potency factor (RPF), generating a combined limit of 4.4 ng/l expressed as PFOA‑equivalents. RPFs range from 0.001 for less potent compounds such as PFBS to 10 for highly potent PFAS such as long‑chain PFCA and PFSA, with PFOA set as the reference substance at 1. Under the revised GWD, groundwater quality standards (QS) reference PFAS4 and the “Sum of PFAS” list (currently PFAS20) from the Drinking Water Directive (DWD; (EU) 2020/2184), linking groundwater protection directly to drinking water safety.

Eurofins Analytical Capacity

Eurofins has provided both PFAS24 and TFA analytical capabilities for three years and we are now expanding our range to cover PFAS25 in dedicated packages. This expansion also includes combined PFAS25–PFAS 20/21/22 (PFAS31) options to accommodate the gap between EQSD (WFD) and GWD/DWD regulatory lists including Swedish and Danish DWD additions. Moreover, a PFAS57 package is introduced covering the lists above as well as UK DWI PFAS48 and three complementary compounds from our PFAS35 pack. Packs for both clean (e.g. ground, surface and drinking water) and unclean water (e.g. leachate, process and wastewater) are offered. All new packages incorporate an RPF weighted PFAS25 sum. There is also the option to add the previous RPF-weighted PFAS24 sum. Four 100 ml PFAS bottles are required of which we strongly recommend that two are frozen for the preservation of telomer alcohols (FTOH). Delivery time is 10 working days and express options are available. For more information about packages, see our online analysis catalogue.

For questions regarding PFAS, our analytical advisory service is available through customer support at 010-490 8110 or via email at sh-analys.miljo.se@etn.eurofins.com

Links

EU council (press release)
Eurofins (FTOH in water)
Eurofins online catalogue