Reference

Currently Unavoidable Use: How PFAS Exemptions Work

Maine, Minnesota and New Mexico let regulators exempt a PFAS use from their bans when it is essential for health, safety or the functioning of society and alternatives are not reasonably available. Other states and the EU use waivers, postponements or written derogations instead.

Maine

The DEP decides by rule whether a PFAS use is currently unavoidable. A determination exempts the product for five years, and only products covered by one must be reported to the DEP, with a $1,500 fee per notification. Manufacturers with 100 or fewer employees are exempt from notification.

The DEP received 11 proposals for the January 1, 2026 bans and approved two, both for components of cleaning product containers used in specified industrial sectors, in a Chapter 90 amendment effective October 7, 2025. Both run until January 1, 2031. The DEP said in January 2026 that it would revise Chapter 90 during 2026.

Minnesota

The MPCA may designate currently unavoidable uses by rule, but not for any of the 11 categories banned in 2025. Its rulemaking is at the concept stage, with a proposed rule planned for 2027 or later, ahead of the January 1, 2032 all-products ban.

The Department of Agriculture makes the parallel decision for pesticides. Since January 1, 2026, pesticides in the 11 Amara's Law categories with intentionally added PFAS cannot be registered without a currently unavoidable use finding.

New Mexico

The Environmental Improvement Board designates currently unavoidable uses by rule and may rely on other states' determinations. Proposals are filed through NMED's portal, one per product category and NAICS sector, between 60 and 12 months before the applicable ban.

For the January 1, 2027 bans, complete proposals received by October 31, 2026 are treated as approved while NMED reviews them, with decisions due by March 1, 2027.

Rhode Island

The 2024 act had no unavoidable use process. S 2799, signed June 19, 2026, lets the DEM director grant conditional exemptions for a product or category when the use benefits the environment or protects public health or safety, renewable for up to five years.

Vermont

Vermont has no unavoidable use process. The Attorney General may postpone a product's compliance date by up to one year on a showing that compliance is not feasible.

California

No California PFAS product law has an unavoidable use process. The closest analog is the State Fire Marshal waiver for terminal and refinery foam, available beyond January 1, 2028 only on clear and convincing evidence, with every waiver ending by January 1, 2032.

European Union

EU restrictions carry time-limited derogations written into each entry. The firefighting foam restriction allows Seveso sites, offshore oil and gas installations and some ships to use PFAS foam until October 23, 2035, and the Toy Safety Regulation allows a derogation only if ECHA finds a use safe and without alternatives.