Justice orders expert appraisal on the role of Daikin and Arkema near Lyon

On Tuesday, August 6, the courts dealt a serious setback to the Daikin and Arkema groups in the eternal pollutants case, by ordering an independent expert appraisal to assess their historical responsibility in PFAS pollution south of Lyon. A summary judge, seized in civil proceedings by the Lyon Metropolis, appointed a panel of experts tasked with producing a report by December 31, 2025 on the use of these chemical substances by the two manufacturers on their Pierre-Bénite site.

These experts will be able to demand documents and visit sites to quantify historical PFAS emissions by Daikin and Arkema and will have to provide their opinion on the dates from which these companies became aware of the potentially harmful effects on the environment, according to a copy of the order issued Friday.

“For the first time, companies are being named and we are going to look for their share of responsibility in this pollution”declared to the AFP the president of the Lyon Metropolis, the ecologist Bruno Bernard, welcoming a “historic decision”In the long term, the Metropolis intends to ask them to compensate for the additional cost of treating running water, estimated at between 5 and 10 million euros to bring the running water intended for its residents below the European reference threshold.

During the hearing in May at the Lyon Criminal Court, Arkema and Daikin’s lawyers asked the judge to reject the request for an expert report, highlighting in particular the absence of a law banning PFAS.