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The list below is an extract from the French and European Official Gazettes concerning the environment, energy and health and safety at work in October 2025.
ENVIRONMENT
New decree on the use of treated wastewater for urban cleaning and modification of decrees on watering green spaces and irrigating crops
Order of September 8, 2025 relating to the conditions of production and use of treated wastewater for urban cleaning and AMENDING the order of December 14, 2023 relating to the conditions of production and use of treated wastewater for watering green spaces AND AMENDING the order of December 18, 2023 relating to the conditions of production and use of treated wastewater for crop irrigation [JORF of October 5, 2025].
This decree defines the requirements to be met when using treated wastewater for urban cleaning purposes, such as : road cleaning with sweepers; cleaning, without the use of spray nozzles, of road shoulders and engineering structures; cleaning of landfill sites; hydrocleaning of sewage networks and cleaning of equipment associated with hydrocleaning of sewage networks; hydrocleaning of rainwater networks; operations on non-collective sanitation installations and cleaning of skips.
Secondly, this decree clarifies and amends the decree of December 14, 2023 on the conditions for the production and use of treated wastewater for watering green spaces, and the decree of December 18, 2023 on the conditions for the production and use of treated wastewater for crop irrigation.
Addition to the list of industrial platforms
Arrêté du 18 novembre 2021 fixant la liste des plateformes industrielles prévue par l'article L. 515-48 du code de l'environnement MODIFIÉ par l'arrêté du 17 octobre 2025 [JORF du 31 octobre 2025]
The amending decree completes the list of industrial platforms by adding the Empalot industrial platform* (managed by ArianeGroup SAS).
*As a reminder, an industrial platform is a grouping of classified facilities in a defined, homogeneous area, leading to the pooling of the management of certain goods and services required by these facilities, due to the similarity or complementarity of their activities.
ENERGY
Modification of feed-in tariff eligibility for solar photovoltaic installations and certain biogas plants
Code de l'énergie Articles R. 314-1 à R. 314-52-11 : Les dispositifs de soutien aux énergies renouvelables et à la cogénération à partir de gaz naturel MODIFIÉ par le décret n° 2025-1008 du 28 octobre 2025 modifiant l'article D. 314-15 du code de l'énergie relatif aux seuils applicables pour bénéficier de l'obligation d'achat pour la production d'électricité à partir d'énergies renouvelables [JORF du 30 octobre 2025].
This amending decree reviews the conditions of eligibility for the feed-in tariff for :
- remove from the scheme plants recovering biogas produced by methanization of non-hazardous waste and raw plant material;
- lowering the eligibility ceiling for solar photovoltaic installations on buildings, sheds or shades in mainland France from 500 kWp to 100 kWp. The threshold remains at 500 kWp for installations in areas not interconnected to the mainland metropolitan grid*.
*An amendment dated June 5, 2025 already provided for this threshold to be lowered to 200 kWp by January 1, 2026.
SAFETY
Use and marketing restrictions for PFAS in fire-fighting foams
Regulation No. 1907/2006 of December 18, 2006 concerning the Registration, Evaluation, Authorization and Restriction of Chemicals (REACH) AMENDED BY Regulation (EU) 2025/1988 of October 2, 2025 amending Annex XVII to Regulation No. 1907/2006 as regards per- and polyfluoroalkylated substances in fire-fighting foams [OJEU of October 3, 2025] and its corrigendum [OJEU of October 8, 2025].
With the aim of eliminating all non-essential uses of PFAS, the regulation amends the REACH annex on restrictions on the manufacture, placing on the market and use of certain dangerous substances, mixtures and articles to include PFAS substances in their entirety, i.e. any substance containing at least one fully fluorinated methyl (CF3) or methylene (CF2) carbon atom (with no H/Cl/Br/I carbon atoms attached).
From October 23, 2030, these substances may no longer be marketed or used in fire-fighting foams at concentrations equal to or greater than 1 mg/L for the sum of all PFAS. Associated obligations, exclusions and adjustments are also specified.
Amendment of the Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) regulation in connection with specific exemptions for the manufacture, placing on the market or use of tetraBDE, pentaBDE, hexaBDE, heptaBDE and decaBDE
Regulation (EU) 2019/1021 of 20 June 2019 on persistent organic pollutants AMENDED BY Delegated Regulation (EU) 2025/1482 of 24 July 2025 amending Regulation (EU) 2019/1021 as regards the persistent organic pollutants tetrabromodiphenyl ether, pentabromodiphenyl ether, hexabromodiphenyl ether, heptabromodiphenyl ether and decabromodiphenyl ether [OJEU 4 September 2025].
The regulation amends Annex I of the POPs regulation, which sets out the list of banned POPs with regard to exemptions from entries relating to :
- Tetrabromodiphenyl ether C12H6Br4O (CAS: 40088-47-9 and others),
- Pentabromodiphenyl ether C12H5Br5O (CAS: 32534-81-9 and others),
- Hexabromodiphenyl ether C12H4Br6O (CAS: 36483-60-0 and others),
- Heptabromodiphenyl ether C12H3Br7O (CAS: 68928-80-3 and others),
- Bis(pentabromophenyl)ether (decabromodiphenyl ether; decaBDE) (CAS: 1163-19-5).
In fact, the thresholds for derogations provided for in these entries were to be reviewed and assessed by the Commission no later than July 16, 2021.
Amendments relating to the employment of seniors and the quality of social dialogue
Code du travail Articles L. 2312-5 to L. 2312-60: Attributions du comité social et économique / Code du travail Articles L. 4624-1 to L. 4624-10: Actions et moyens des membres des équipes pluridisciplinaires de santé au travail / Code du travail Articles L. 3121-1 to L. 3121-69: Durée et aménagement du travail / Code du travail Articles L. 1511-1 to L. 1532-1: Dispositions relatives aux relations individuelles de travail dans les territoires d'outre-mer / Code du travail Articles L. 2313-1 à L. 2315-94: Mise en place, fonctionnement et composition du comité social et économique MODIFIÉS PAR la loi n° 2025-989 du 24 octobre 2025 portant transposition des accords nationaux interprofessionnels en faveur de l'emploi des salariés expérimentés et relatif à l'évolution du dialogue social [JORF du 25 octobre 2025].
With the aim of promoting the employment of seniors and improving the quality of social dialogue, this law amends various provisions of the Labor Code, notably in relation to :
- New information made available to the social and economic committee by the employer in establishments with more than 50 employees;
- Measures to adapt or change workstations or working hours are taken into account during the employee career development interview;
- How employers may refuse phased retirement ;
- Elimination of the three-term limit for members of the CSE staff delegation.