French ACS Approval for Drinking Water Products

If you are a manufacturer of products that come into contact with drinking water and want to sell your product in France prior to 31 December 2026, you are required to obtain the certificate of sanitary conformity, known as ACS (Attestation de Conformité Sanitaire).

Between 1997 and 2022, France made ACS mandatory for five categories of products and materials used in the production, treatment, storage, and distribution of drinking water:

• Water pipes, seals, coatings, or fittings made with organic materials including PVC (polyvinyl chloride), PE (polyethylene), PP (polypropylene), and epoxy resin
• Accessories that contain organic materials, such as pumps, valves, flowmeters, or shower hoses
• Filtration modules (ultrafiltration, nanofiltration, reverse osmosis, etc.) for the treatment of drinking water
• Reactors for the treatment of drinking water with UV radiations
• Ion exchange resins used to remove certain unwanted solids from drinking water or reduce the presence of calcium and magnesium (water softening)

Metallic materials (metal, alloy, or metallic coatings) are not required to have an ACS but are subject to a different set of standards. When a product that needs an ACS also contains metallic parts, these must comply with those requirements, or the ACS will not be granted.

The ACS certificate is valid for 5 years.

The goal of the analysis is to ensure that your product won’t modify the organoleptic, physicochemical, or microbiological properties of drinking water due to migration or chemical transformation. The tests will vary depending on the type of product and material. However, they typically consist of two steps:

1. The assessment of the material composition with the help of available scientific research
2. Migration tests

Why work with NSF for your ACS certification

When you work with NSF for your ACS approval, you’ll be assigned a single point of contact, a dedicated account manager, who will help you to:

• Navigate French water approval requirements
• Prepare your products to be tested by the biggest approved laboratory in France
• Ensure your products remain compliant through the upcoming regulatory changes across Europe
• Your account manager will support you in your local language (e.g. French, German, Italian, Chinese, and more)