TSCA Reporting Requirements - Busy Years Ahead

By John Kowalski, regulatory affairs lead, Supply Chain Team, UL Solutions

Four major reporting rules under the U.S. Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) have reporting deadlines in 2024 and 2025. The rules, along with their associated reporting deadlines, are:

• the Asbestos Reporting Rule - May 24, 2024;
• the Chemical Data Reporting Rule - September 30, 2024;
• the PFAS Reporting Rule - May 8, 2025 (or November 10, 2025 for small businesses that are subject to reporting based solely on the importation of PFAS-containing articles); and
• the Mercury Inventory Reporting Rule - July 1, 2025.

Each of these rules is briefly summarized below.

On July 25, 2023, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) published a final reporting and recordkeeping rule for Asbestos. This rule established a one-time reporting requirement for entities that have manufactured, imported, or processed asbestos, including asbestos as a component of a mixture, asbestos in articles, or asbestos as an impurity in the four full calendar years prior to the effective date of this rule, and with annual sales greater than or equal to $500,000 in any calendar year from 2019 to 2022, when combined with those of their ultimate parent company. The effective date of the final rule was August 24, 2023. So, the reporting requirements apply to calendar years 2019 through 2022 inclusive. Information must be reported during the three-month data submission period beginning February 24, 2024 and ending May 24, 2024.

The Chemical Data Reporting (CDR) rule established recurring reporting requirements for manufacturers and importers of chemical substances on the TSCA Inventory. Under the CDR rule, companies are required to report exposure-related information, including information on the types, quantities and uses of chemical substances produced domestically and imported into the United States, every four years. Generally speaking, reporting is required for chemicals substances for which the total quantities imported into or manufactured in the U.S. are 25,000 pounds or greater for a specific reporting year at a single site. However, the reporting threshold is 2,500 pounds or greater for substances subject to certain actions under TSCA.

Manufacturers and importers of chemical substances on the TSCA Inventory will be subject to the CDR requirements in 2024 if the total quantities imported into or manufactured in the U.S. exceed the specified production volume thresholds in any one or more of calendar years 2020, 2021, 2022, or 2023. Total quantities include quantities imported as the pure chemical, quantities imported as a component of one or more mixtures, and quantities manufactured in the U.S. The 2024 submission period will run from June 1, 2024, to September 30, 2024.

On October 11, 2023, EPA published a final reporting and recordkeeping rule for Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS). The rule established a one-time reporting requirement for any entity that has manufactured or imported for commercial purposes at any time since 2011 a chemical substance, mixture, or article containing PFAS.

The rule defines PFAS based upon molecular structure; and, it applies to all chemical substances and mixtures containing a chemical substance (including articles) that are a PFAS, consistent with the structural definition. Companies that have manufactured or imported a PFAS (or an article containing a PFAS) for commercial purposes at any period from January 1, 2011 through the end of the last calendar year prior to the effective date of this rule are subject to reporting. The effective date of the final rule was November 13, 2023. So, reports are required for calendar years 2011 through 2022 inclusive. The submission period will run from November 12, 2024 to November 10, 2025 for small businesses that are subject to reporting based solely upon the importation of PFAS-containing articles and from November 12, 2024 to May 8, 2025 for all others subject to reporting.

The Mercury Inventory Reporting Rule established recurring reporting requirements for entities that manufacture or import Mercury or Mercury-added products or otherwise intentionally use Mercury in a manufacturing process. The reporting requirements apply to elemental Mercury and to Mercury compounds. Reporting is required at three-year intervals.

A reporting year is the year during which Mercury activity, for which reporting is required under this rule, has occurred. All information reported for an applicable reporting year must be submitted on or before the first day of July following the reporting year. The 2024 reporting year runs from January 1, 2024 to December 31, 2024. The submission deadline for the 2024 reporting year is July 1, 2025.

All four of the reporting rules summarized above require that submissions be prepared and sent electronically to EPA using reporting tools in the Agency’s Central Data Exchange. For companies that are subject to one or more of these rules, it is not too soon to begin preparing to comply.

References

 Asbestos; Reporting and Recordkeeping Requirements Under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA)

TSCA Chemical Data Reporting Requirements

Toxic Substances Control Act Reporting and Recordkeeping Requirements for Perfluoroalkyl and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances

Reporting Requirements for the TSCA Inventory of Mercury Supply, Use, And Trade

Environmental Protection Agency Central Data Exchange