PFAS Transition – Regulation, Compliance and Industry Pathways

Frauke Averbeck is a scientific officer working at the Federal Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (BAuA) in Division 5, the Federal Office for Chemicals (BfC), which is the German Competent Authority for REACH, CLP and Biocides. Her main tasks encompass the overarching coordination of the German national activities in regulatory risk management under REACH. In the context of the current work on the PFAS restriction dossier she also coordinates the joint work of the authorities of the cooperating Member States (Germany, the Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden and Norway).

Valentina Bertato has been working at the European Commission since 2011, shaping EU chemicals policy with a strong scientific and regulatory perspective. She began her career in DG GROW and, since 2017, has been part of DG ENV. Her current work focuses on REACH restrictions addressing environmental risks, including microplastics, as well as on international chemicals policy. Trained as an environmental chemist, she brings deep technical expertise to the development of effective and forward-looking regulatory solutions.

Ronald Bock is Senior Advocacy and Regulatory Manager at AGC Chemicals Europe and the Chairman of the Fluoropolymer Product Group (FPG). He brings more than two decades of experience in regulatory affairs, advocacy, and product stewardship, having held senior roles at The Chemours Company and DuPont, where he worked extensively on EU and international chemicals legislation and industry engagement.

Jonathan Crozier is deputy head of the BASF Brussels office. Jonathan joined BASF’s Corporate Government affairs team in 2021, working on EU chemical and environmental policies, before he was appointed head of the chemical and environmental policy team by end 2023. Since he joined BASF, Jonathan has led advocacy campaigns on the REACH and CLP revisions at both EU and national levels, as well as bringing key contributions on the drafting of the BASF PFAS ambition. Jonathan also spearheaded direct and indirect (FPP4EU) advocacy efforts on PFAS. Before joining BASF, Jonathan worked as a sector group manager within Cefic’s specialty chemicals department, where he managed sector groups Formacare (formaldehyde and derivatives) and pinfa (non halogenated flame retardants), supporting chemical industry member companies with full-size programs on science, advocacy and communications. Jonathan has a longtime track record of working with the European Commission, initiated during his time as communication manager of EPAA, the European Partnership for Alternative Approaches to Animal Testing. A French native, Jonathan holds a MA in European Affairs from Sciences Po Grenoble.

Preslava Dilkova advises on EU regulatory compliance cases, focusing on EU chemicals regulation, including REACH (Registration, Evaluation, Authorization and Restriction of Chemicals), the CLP Regulation (classification, labelling, and packaging), and the Biocidal Products Regulation. For nearly a decade, Preslava has counseled on all aspects of REACH (registrations, compliance checks and substance evaluation cases, authorizations, and restrictions). She is closely involved in the management of several REACH registration and authorization consortia ranging from three to 280 participants.

Maren Gadermann holds a degree in chemistry and possesses over four years of professional experience in environmental and health consultancy. She has contributed to numerous projects centered on chemical risk assessments and analytical problem-solving, with a particular focus on PFAS-related issues. As an active member of Ramboll's PFAS Green Play initiative, Maren assists clients in overcoming PFAS-related challenges, including analytical complexities, and evaluating alternative solutions.

Hans-Joachim Gehrmann has over 20 years of experience in combustion, particle, and thermal process engineering. He has been the Head of the Department Combustion and Particle Technology at the Institute for Technical Chemistry (ITC) at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) since 2018 and has been leading the Working Group Combustion Technology at ITC since 2006. Having received his PhD from Bauhaus University Weimar in 2005, he served as a Lecturer at the University of Stuttgart in the WASTE degree programme. His expertise includes oxyfuel combustion of waste, PFAS and thermal solutions for carbon reinforced fiber wastes.

Dimitrios Giannakoulopoulos currently works as a Officer for chemicals regulation at the industry association SPECTARIS. In this role, he deals with a broad range of regulatory topics, including REACH, CLP, and RoHS, with a particular focus on PFAS-related issues, supporting industry engagement at the interface of science, regulation, and policy.

Bärbel Ines Hintermeier LL.M. is founding partner at LEKKER Partners – a law firm specialised in food law and sustainability. She advises in particular on labelling issues, assists in the development of advertising strategies and in crisis situations such as official complaints and product recalls. Another focus of her work is advising on the development and improvement of compliance systems with regard to food safety and sustainability aspects. Previously, she worked in Berlin and Cape Town before joining meyer.rechtsanwälte as a lawyer in Munich for several years. Later on she worked as legal counsel at German Association of the Grain, Milling and Starch Industry (VGMS), where she was responsible for food law, quality and safety as well as sustainability matters. She holds a Master’s degree in international intellectual property law from the TU Dresden and a certificate in sustainability management from FH Hamburg. In addition to publishing in specialist journals, she regularly gives lectures and teaches at the DHBW Heilbronn.

Jonatan Kleinmark is a PFAS Expert working at ChemSec, an independent non-profit organisation that advocates for substitution of toxic chemicals to safer alternatives.

Oliver Loebel has been secretary general of EurEau, European federation of national associations of water services since 2016. The federation and its 38 member organisations work at all levels to protect our water resources for today’s and for future generations. Prior to this, Oliver spent eight years as managing director with PU Europe. Before this, he worked as director for sector policy at the European SME association UEAPME and represented the building services industry at European level through CEETB. Between 1994 and 1997, Oliver worked with the European Commission, developing support measures for Europe’s small businesses. Oliver received his university degree in Economics at the Berlin School of Economics (Germany) and an MBA in International Business at École des Ponts et Chaussées (Paris, France).

James McKone joined Claros in 2025 after a distinguished academic career at the University of Pittsburgh. Over nine years, he taught undergraduate and graduate courses in chemical engineering, supervised more than 50 research trainees, and managed research programs with over $7.5 million in total expenditures from federal and private sources. His academic achievements include Caltech's Milton and Francis Clauser Prize for exemplary doctoral dissertation research (2013), the Beckman Young Investigator Award (2020), and the University of Pittsburgh's James Pommersheim Award for teaching excellence (2024). Dr. McKone holds a bachelor's degree in chemistry and music from St. Olaf College, a PhD in chemistry from Caltech, and completed additional postdoctoral training at Cornell University.

Denis Mottet is currently a Policy Officer at the European Commission, working on EU chemicals policy with a strong focus on regulatory development and implementation. Before joining the Commission, he spent over twelve years at the European Chemicals Agency as a Scientific Officer in Chemical Risk Management, where he led and managed authorisation and restriction processes under REACH, coordinated high-concern substance dossiers, and later worked on the authorisation of biocidal active substances under the Biocidal Products Regulation, with particular expertise in analysis of alternatives, substitution, and safe and sustainable by design approaches.

Thijs de Kort is currently Coordinator for REACH Restrictions and Authorisations at the Bureau REACH of the RIVM, where he also serves as Project Manager for the REACH universal PFAS restriction. He has held a range of senior roles at RIVM over many years, including Deputy Head of Bureau REACH, combining strategic coordination with hands-on regulatory and scientific expertise. His work focuses on the development and implementation of REACH restrictions and authorisations, with a strong background in ecotoxicology and chemical risk assessment, and extensive experience bridging science, policy, and regulatory practice at national and EU level.