Key takeaway
What This Development Means
ALEC's PFAS Model Policy Act gives US state lawmakers a draft framework for restricting intentionally added PFAS in specified consumer products, requiring manufacturer disclosures, and allowing exemptions for currently unavoidable uses. If adopted by states, the model could add new product checks, supplier data needs and state-by-state compliance variation from 2028.
What does the PFAS Model Policy Act cover?
The draft model policy targets products with intentionally added PFAS, including cookware, cosmetics, carpets, cleaning products, food packaging, fabric treatments, firefighting foam, feminine hygiene products and textiles, subject to listed exemptions.
Why does the PFAS Model Policy Act matter for manufacturers?
If states adopt the framework, manufacturers may need to identify intentionally added PFAS, submit product information, respond to testing requests, track exemptions and manage different state-level requirements across affected product categories.
Source basis: ALEC, PFAS Model Policy Act, published 23 June 2026
The American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) has published a PFAS Model Policy Act that gives US state lawmakers a template for restricting intentionally added PFAS in products. The draft could influence US state PFAS regulation by setting common language for product bans, reporting duties, exemptions and testing requests.
The model act focuses on intentionally added PFAS rather than trace contamination. It defines intentionally added PFAS as substances deliberately used during manufacture where their continued presence in the final product, or one of its components, is desired for a specific function.
Draft Framework Targets Product Categories From 2028
The proposal would prohibit the sale, offer for sale, distribution or distribution for sale of specified products containing intentionally added PFAS from 1 January 2028, unless an exemption applies.
Product categories listed in the draft include cookware, dental floss, juvenile products, firefighting foam, carpets and rugs, cleaning products, cosmetics, fabric treatments, feminine hygiene products, textiles, textile furnishings, upholstered furniture and ski wax.
The act also directs state environmental departments to assess additional consumer products for possible future restrictions. Reports would be due by 1 January 2029 and 1 January 2032 for categories not already covered by the initial product list.
Currently Unavoidable Use Exemptions Shape The Scope
A central feature is the "currently unavoidable use" concept. The draft defines this as a use that a department determines by rule to be essential for health, safety or the functioning of society, where alternatives are not reasonably available.
The proposal would allow state departments to adopt rules identifying currently unavoidable uses and to rely on determinations made by other states. This could help align exemption decisions, but it may also create a moving compliance boundary if states implement the model differently.
Several product groups are also excluded from the phase-out provisions, including medical devices and drugs regulated by the US Food and Drug Administration, products used for public health or environmental testing, motor vehicles, aircraft, watercraft, certain industrial and electronic uses, fluoropolymer-containing products that meet the draft criteria, and pesticides regulated under FIFRA.
Manufacturer Information Duties Would Expand
The draft model act includes reporting provisions for products sold or distributed in a state that contain intentionally added PFAS. Manufacturers would need to provide product information to the department by 1 January 2028, unless exempted.
Required information would include a product description, the purpose for which PFAS are used, the amount of each PFAS substance in the product, manufacturer contact details and any other information required by rule.
From 1 January 2028, a manufacturer could be prevented from selling a product containing intentionally added PFAS if it has failed to provide required information. The department could also request testing results where it has reason to believe a product containing intentionally added PFAS is being sold.
Why Businesses Should Monitor State Adoption
The ALEC proposal is not law on its own. Its significance depends on whether individual states introduce bills based on the model text, and whether those bills preserve the same timelines, exemptions and reporting requirements.
For manufacturers, importers, distributors and retailers, the draft reinforces the need to map PFAS use across products, components and suppliers. The most exposed categories include consumer goods where PFAS functions such as water, oil, stain or heat resistance are part of product performance.
Businesses supplying multiple US states should watch for diverging definitions, exemption rules, reporting portals and enforcement dates. Even where a state does not adopt the model exactly, the language may influence future PFAS bills and supplier disclosure expectations.
Summary
ALEC's PFAS Model Policy Act gives state legislatures a draft framework for restricting intentionally added PFAS in selected consumer products from 2028, while allowing exemptions for currently unavoidable uses. The proposal has no legal force unless adopted by states, but it signals continued pressure for product-level PFAS disclosure, substitution planning and supply chain transparency.
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