Memoranda

Turkey has obtained new funds from the EU to support implementation of KKDIK (Registration (Kaydı), Evaluation (Değerlendirilmesi), Authorization (İzni) and Restriction (Kısıtlanması) of Chemicals (Kimyasalların)) (Turkey REACH). Turkey has secured € 1.6 million as part of the Instrument for Pre-accession Assistance (IPA) program, “the means by which the EU supports reforms in the ‘enlargement countries’ with financial and technical help.” The funds obtained...

On April 12, 2019, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released a proposed rule that would amend the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) Section 8(a) Chemical Data Reporting (CDR) requirements and the TSCA Section 8(a) size standards for small manufacturers. The current CDR rule requires manufacturers (including importers) of certain chemical substances listed on the TSCA Chemical Substance Inventory (TSCA Inventory) to report data on chemical manufacturing, processing, and use every...

On April 10, 2019, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released a proposed rule regarding its plan to review certain confidential business information (CBI) claims to protect the specific chemical identities of substances on the confidential portion of the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) Inventory.  The CBI claims that would be reviewed under this plan are those that were asserted on Notice of Activity (NOA) Form A’s filed in accordance with the requirements in...

On April 9, 2019, the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Environment and Climate Change held a hearing on the fiscal year (FY) 2020 budget for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The April 5, 2019, memorandum from Representative Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-NJ), Chair of the Committee on Energy and Commerce, states that President Trump’s FY 2020 budget requests $6.068 billion for EPA, a $2.76 billion (31 percent) decrease from the level set in...

On March 25, 2019, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) finally weighed-in on the murky and often misunderstood topic of label claims for plant regulators and plant biostimulants in posting its Draft Guidance for Plant Regulator Label Claims, Including Plant Biostimulants in Docket # EPA-HQ-OPP-2018-0258.  EPA issued the notice of availability in the Federal Register on March 27, 2019.  84 Fed. Reg. 11538.  EPA states that the draft...

On March 27, 2019, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) posted a signed final rule that will establish final significant new use rules (SNUR) under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) for 13 chemical substances that are the subject of premanufacture notices (PMN). The final rule is significant because the 13 chemical substances are not also subject to consent orders. During the review, EPA identified certain reasonably foreseen conditions of use that it designated as...

On March 27, 2019, the House Science, Space, and Technology Subcommittee on Investigations and Oversight and Subcommittee on Environment held a hearing on “EPA’s IRIS Program:  Reviewing its Progress and Roadblocks Ahead.”  The hearing focused on issues with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS) Program, as described in two recent reports issued by the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO), Chemical Assessments:...

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released on March 20, 2019, a list of 40 chemicals for which EPA is initiating the prioritization process for risk evaluation. Section 6(b)(2)(B) of the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) requires that, as of three and a half years after enactment (by December 22, 2019), at least 20 high-priority chemicals be undergoing risk evaluations and at least 20 low-priority chemicals be designated by EPA. In a March 21, 2019, Federal Register...

On March 15, 2019, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) published a signed final rule that prohibits the manufacture (including import), processing, and distribution of methylene chloride for consumer paint and coating removal. EPA states that it “determined that the use of methylene chloride in consumer paint and coating removal presents an unreasonable risk of injury to health due to acute human lethality.” Under the final rule, paint removal products containing...

On March 18, 2019, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released new tools intended to help companies, organizations, and individuals fulfill their reporting requirements under the mercury reporting requirements rule. Those required to report under the mercury rule can now do so online through the Mercury Electronic Reporting (MER) application accessed through EPA’s Central Data Exchange (CDX). EPA states that it designed this reporting tool “to be user-friendly, with drop-down...