By Lynn L. Bergeson and Carla N. Hutton

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced on October 15, 2021, that it is updating the confidential status of 377 chemical identities and will include these chemical identities on the next update of the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) Inventory, planned for winter 2022. The TSCA Inventory is a list of all existing chemical substances manufactured, processed, or imported in the United States. According to EPA, the Inventory contains 86,607 chemicals, of which 41,953 are active in U.S commerce.

As reported in our April 30, 2021, blog item, in April 2021, EPA announced its review of 390 specific chemical identities that were expected to lose their confidential status on the TSCA Inventory. Of the 390 chemicals under review, EPA states that it found that 13 accession numbers corresponded to substances that are already on the public portion of the Inventory or to substances reported using an invalid accession number (which was later corrected and/or the confidentiality claim was withdrawn). The remaining 377 chemical identities were reported as non-confidential by one or more manufacturers during the 2012, 2016, and/or 2020 Chemical Data Reporting (CDR) periods -- “meaning that at least one manufacturer did not request that each of these chemical identities be kept confidential, effectively saying it is not a secret that the chemical is in U.S. commerce. Therefore, these substances are no longer eligible for continued confidential Inventory status.”

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By Lynn L. Bergeson and Carla N. Hutton

As reported in our April 30, 2021, blog item, on April 29, 2021, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced the release of a list of 390 chemicals that it states are “expected to lose their confidential status and move to the public portion of the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) Inventory, furthering the agency’s commitment to data transparency.” EPA announced on May 14, 2021, that it is extending the notification deadline to June 30, 2021. According to EPA, the American Chemistry Council and BASF requested additional time to review the list of 390 chemicals. EPA states that concerns were expressed over the potential that some of the chemicals overlap with those reported under the Active-Inactive rule and the perception that EPA relied only on 2020 Chemical Data Reporting (CDR) rule submissions to identify these chemicals.

According to EPA, in regard to the industry concerns that it relied solely on 2020 CDR submissions, it plans to declassify the specific identities of these chemicals because one or more manufacturers reported the chemicals as non-confidential during the 2012, 2016, and/or 2020 CDR reporting periods -- “meaning that at least one manufacturer did not request that each of the chemical identities be kept confidential, effectively saying it is not a secret that the chemical is in U.S. commerce.” EPA states that additionally, it did an “extensive review” of each individual instance in which confidential status was not requested for these chemical identities to confirm the accuracy of the list.

EPA acknowledges that some of the chemicals may also have been reported or subject to reporting under the Active-Inactive rule, which required companies to identify chemicals manufactured, imported, or processed in the United States during the ten-year time period ending on June 21, 2016. Although EPA is aware that there may have been submitter confusion and questions regarding confidentiality claims during the initial reporting period, it states that for each of the 390 chemicals, “there is also one or more independent CDR-based (and EPA-validated) reasons to consider the chemical identities to be no longer eligible for inclusion on the confidential portion of the Inventory.” EPA intends to update the TSCA Inventory listings for these chemicals to list the specific chemical identities on the public portion of the Inventory during summer 2021.

EPA states that stakeholders with interest, questions, or concerns about this change in confidential status may contact the EPA staff listed on its webpage no later than June 30, 2021. Stakeholders should review the list of substances and ensure that none of those substances is of critical importance to maintain confidential status.

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By Lynn L. Bergeson and Carla N. Hutton

On April 29, 2021, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced the release of a list of 390 chemicals that it states are “expected to lose their confidential status and move to the public portion of the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) Inventory, furthering the agency’s commitment to data transparency.”  According to EPA, the specific identities of these chemicals were reported as non-confidential during Chemical Data Reporting (CDR) cycles from the 2012, 2016, and/or 2020 reporting periods.  In accordance with the CDR rule and with TSCA Sections 8 and 14, EPA intends to update the TSCA Inventory listings for these chemicals to list the specific chemical identities on the public portion of the Inventory.  Stakeholders should check the list of substances and ensure that none of those substances is of critical importance to maintain confidential status.  Stakeholders with interest, questions, or concerns about this change in confidential status may contact the listed EPA staff no later than May 14, 2021.  EPA expects to include the specific chemical identities of these 390 chemicals in the next routine publication of the public TSCA Inventory, anticipated in late summer 2021.

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