A surface coating can be almost invisible, yet its influence on a product is substantial. It affects how easily a pan releases food, how a display responds to repeated cleaning, how a building façade retains its appearance, and how manufacturing equipment behaves under continuous use.
For businesses, those surface properties now sit alongside another consideration: the changing regulation of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, commonly known as PFAS.
Nanize, a Norwegian surface technology company, develops PFAS-free polysilazane formulations and rapid curing technology. Its proposition brings together material selection, surface performance, and industrial processing, giving manufacturers a platform to evaluate as they develop products for changing international requirements.
Why PFAS has become a business issue
PFAS encompasses a large family of synthetic substances, including materials used for water repellency, stain resistance, and low-friction surfaces. Their environmental persistence has made them a focus of chemical regulation. Different PFAS have different properties, and authorities regulate them through a mixture of substance-specific controls, product restrictions, and broader policy initiatives.
For manufacturers, that creates practical questions. Which ingredients are present in a coating? Which markets will receive the finished product? What evidence will customers require? How much time will be needed to qualify an alternative?
These questions affect purchasing, engineering, manufacturing, and commercial planning. A company developing a product today may need to support it through several years of sales, maintenance, and replacement parts.
Selecting PFAS-free surface chemistry early can reduce dependence on a chemical family facing evolving restrictions. The commercial value grows when that selection also meets the product’s durability, appearance, and production requirements.
Global PFAS regulations: a market-by-market picture
International PFAS regulation follows several different paths. Businesses need to distinguish measures already applying to their products from proposals and future deadlines.
European Union: existing controls alongside a broader proposal
The EU already regulates several PFAS groups. Under Commission Regulation (EU) 2024/2462, restrictions applying from October 10, 2026 cover PFHxA, its salts, and related substances in specified consumer uses, including clothing and accessories, footwear, cosmetics, and food-contact paper and cardboard. Concentration limits, exemptions, and transitional provisions define the precise scope.
Separately, the broader proposed REACH restriction on PFAS has been undergoing scientific assessment. ECHA’s consultation on its socio-economic committee’s draft opinion ran from March 26 to May 25, 2026, with the committee’s final opinion expected by the end of 2026. The subsequent regulatory decision process involves the European Commission and Member States.
Manufacturers therefore have two planning tasks: meet applicable existing restrictions and evaluate how a broader restriction could affect future materials and product designs.
France: defined consumer product restrictions are in force
France’s law of February 27, 2025 introduced restrictions from January 1, 2026 on PFAS-containing cosmetics, ski waxes, clothing, footwear, and related consumer waterproofing agents. Specified protective clothing and footwear are excepted. Wider textile restrictions are scheduled for 2030, with exceptions.
Residual concentration thresholds and transitional provisions, including arrangements for certain stock manufactured before 2026, matter when determining how the rules apply. Businesses should identify the relevant category and implementation conditions for each product.
United States: state requirements can directly affect product design
Minnesota illustrates the importance of state-level requirements. From January 1, 2025, Amara’s Law prohibited intentionally added PFAS in 11 product categories, including cookware, cleaning products, and fabric treatments. Certain internal and electronic components have separate treatment under the law.
Minnesota also has PFAS product reporting requirements with initial deadlines in 2026 and broader prohibitions scheduled for 2032, subject to statutory exemptions and determinations of currently unavoidable use.
For companies selling across the United States, this makes distribution geography part of materials planning. Requirements should be mapped to the states receiving the product.
Canada: a proposed phased approach with a defined scope
Canada’s 2025 assessment and risk management approach address the PFAS class while excluding fluoropolymers as defined in the assessment. The proposed phased approach begins with PFAS in firefighting foams that are not already regulated, followed by other uses, with exemptions considered through the process.
Existing Canadian controls on certain PFAS remain relevant. The wider phased approach should be understood as a developing regulatory program, with its scope and implementation assessed against official updates.
United Kingdom: a national plan and further regulatory work
The UK published its PFAS Plan in February 2026. It combines action on existing prohibited substances with work on possible further restrictions. UK REACH applies in Great Britain, and the plan sets out work on firefighting foams and consideration of additional PFAS restrictions.
For businesses supplying both Great Britain and the EU, separate regulatory tracking remains valuable. Product development teams can use that tracking to identify where a common material specification may simplify commercial operations.
Australia: controls on specified PFAS chemicals
Australia introduced IChEMS restrictions from July 1, 2025 addressing PFOS, PFOA, and PFHxS, with the relevant listings defining covered substances, conditions, and exceptions. These measures implement controls on specified PFAS rather than a prohibition of every substance in the wider family.
The practical implication is consistent across these markets: chemical identity, intended use, product category, and destination determine the requirements a business must evaluate.
How Nanize approaches the transition
Nanize’s platform uses polysilazane chemistry to develop functional surfaces without PFAS. In its published technical information, the company reports curing in under one minute at temperatures below 100°C without added curing catalysts, with FTIR spectroscopy used to assess chemical changes and crosslinking.
For a manufacturing business, the attraction is the combination of surface chemistry and processing conditions. A useful alternative must fit the substrate, deliver the required finish, and operate within an achievable production window.
Rapid curing may help where curing time limits line capacity. Lower processing temperatures can expand the range of substrates available for evaluation. The financial effect should be established on the manufacturer’s own line, using energy consumption, accepted output, scrap, and quality data.
This creates a more useful purchasing conversation. Teams can compare how a coating performs over the product’s intended life and how efficiently it can be applied at production scale.
Where the opportunity becomes practical
Nanize identifies applications across cookware and bakeware, automotive surfaces, electronics and displays, renewable energy, construction, and industrial manufacturing.
Those sectors have different priorities. A cookware manufacturer may focus on food release after repeated use. An automotive supplier may prioritize appearance and resistance to marking. A display manufacturer needs a coating compatible with optical and touch performance. A building products company may evaluate cleaning effort and outdoor durability.
The strongest opportunity is therefore application-specific. A manufacturer should define the surface problem first, then evaluate the formulation, substrate preparation, coating process, and curing conditions together.
PFAS-free material selection becomes commercially compelling when it supports a product that customers find easier to use, maintain, or manufacture.
Building a defensible PFAS-free specification
A strong specification connects material declarations with the finished product. That means identifying the coating formulation, primers, additives, adjacent layers, and other relevant components, then selecting analytical evidence suited to the claim and destination market.
The distinction between PFOA-free and PFAS-free is particularly relevant to non-stick products. PTFE belongs to the PFAS family, so removing PFOA alone does not establish that a PTFE-containing coating is PFAS-free.
For a buyer, useful documentation should explain what was evaluated, how it was tested, and which formulation and product configuration the evidence covers. This gives engineering, procurement, and customer-facing teams a common basis for their decisions.
An opportunity to improve the product while changing the chemistry
The global PFAS transition creates an opportunity to review how surfaces contribute to product value. Cleaning effort, appearance retention, manufacturing cycle time, and replacement frequency all deserve attention alongside chemical composition.
Nanize brings PFAS-free formulations and curing technology into that discussion. For manufacturers, the next step is a focused evaluation: choose a representative substrate, define the required performance, and establish the production conditions that will deliver it consistently.
Explore Nanize’s technology and discuss your application at www.nanize.com.