June 3, 2021 Thomas Kuus Comments

The International Ski Federation (FIS) announced that they are postponing the ban of fluorinated ski waxes for one more year!

In November of 2019, FIS decided to ban fluorinated ski waxes for all FIS disciplines from the 2020/2021 season and started developing a test machine to detect fluoride on the skis. Development has been ongoing since then.

In October of 2020 the International Ski Federation announced that they have postponed the ban for one more year. Yesterday, FIS announced that the ban will be postponed until the end of 2021/2022 season.

This was the announcement by FIS:

“The full implementation of a Fluorine Tracker that will instantly detect the presence of fluorine wax on skis will be postponed until after the season 2021/2022.

In the following season, the device will be further tested in the real implementation process during the competition season, without penalisation. The implementation process was unfortunately not possible to test during the last season due to the pandemic situation. Reports about the next steps in the development will be prepared for the Council for autumn 2021.

FIS maintains its commitment to developing a reliable test method which guarantees the integrity of its competitions.”

What's next?

From now on it is only allowed to produce products with a “more environmentally friendly” compound - C6 fluorine. In addition, the rule is that the concentration of the product must be less than 25 PPB (parts per billion).

Most of the competition waxes (powders, gels and blocks) produced before the previous season have a content of more than 25 PPB, ie these goods can no longer be produced from 04.07.2020.

From the beginning of the new ski season, competition waxes will also be banned at official FIS competitions. Current ''Fluorine Tracker'' situation suggests that the controls are not reliable and that there seems to be no penalty for teams using the C8 fluorine compound.

Older products with a lower fluorine content (ie HF, LF paraffins) do not exceed the normal limit of 25 PPB, which means that the use and production of these products is not prohibited.

In addition, store shelves already contain a considerable amount of C6 fluoride powders, gels and blocks. The best example is one of our most popular brands Gallium. Ski waxes produced in Japan by Gallium have had C6 fluorine compound from the beginning and no major changes are expected in their products.


Bearing in mind the health risk and environmental concerns connected to fluorine waxes, FIS remains committed to introducing a full fluor ban and to developing testing methods to ensure fluor-free competitions in the future.

Currently all ski waxes and tools are 25% off in the Skiwax Europe shop.

See the products here.

Skiwax Europe
www.skiwax.eu