Blogs

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced on February 19, 2021, that it is extending the public comment period on proposed updates to the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) fees rule to give stakeholders more time to review and comment.  The current comment period was set to close on February 25, 2021.  EPA is extending the comment period an additional 30 days.  Information on the proposed updates is available in our December 30, 2020, memorandum, “EPA Intends Proposed...

The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) has published the latest edition of the Developments in Delegations on the Safety of Manufactured Nanomaterials — Tour de Table.  The Tour de Table compiles information provided by delegations on the occasion of the 20th meeting of the OECD Working Party on Manufactured Nanomaterials (WPMN) in September 2020.  Below are highlights from the Tour de Table: Canada: Canada is developing a nanomaterial...

 The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced on February 18, 2021, that it is opening a public comment period for a manufacturer-requested risk evaluation of octahydro-tetramethyl-naphthalenyl-ethanone (OTNE), a category of chemical substances consisting of four inseparable individual isomers.  EPA notes that two chemicals in the OTNE category are considered persistent, bioaccumulative, and toxic (PBT) chemicals under TSCA, “meaning they are toxic, can remain in the...

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced on February 11, 2021, that it is inviting small businesses, governments, and not-for-profits to participate as Small Entity Representatives (SER) to provide advice and recommendations to a Small Business Advocacy Review (SBAR) Panel for asbestos, part 1:  chrysotile asbestos.  The Panel will focus on EPA’s development of a proposed rule to address unreasonable risks identified in EPA’s recently completed Toxic Substances Control...

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced on February 9, 2021, that it will host two webinars intended to educate stakeholders on the risk management process under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) and the findings in the final risk evaluations for pigment violet 29 (PV29) and n-methylpyrrolidone (NMP).  The webinars will also allow the public to provide input on considerations EPA should take into account for managing any unreasonable risks found with these chemicals. ...

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) is scheduled to publish a notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) on February 16, 2021, that would modify the Hazard Communication Standard (HCS) to conform to the United Nations’ Globally Harmonized System of Classification and Labelling of Chemicals (GHS) Revision 7 “to address issues that arose during the implementation of the 2012 update to the HCS, and provide better alignment with other U.S. agencies and international...

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) published on February 8, 2021, a periodic update of the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) confidential business information (CBI) review statistics.  TSCA Section 14(g)(1) requires that EPA, within 90 days of receipt of a CBI claim: Review and make determinations on CBI claims for chemical identity after the chemical substance has been offered for commercial distribution; and Review and make determinations on a representative subset of...

In December 2020, the European Commission (EC) Directorate-General (DG) for Research and Innovation opened a call for tenders for “Providing market data about nanotechnology to enhance transparency.”  The description states that the study on nanotechnology/nanomaterials is aimed to provide a new set of data from the period of 2017 to 2020 into the NanoData database, available on the European Union (EU) Observatory for Nanomaterials (EUON) website.  This study will follow up on...

The American Law Institute Continuing Legal Education (ALI CLE) and the Environmental Law Institute’s (ELI) Environmental Law 2021 webcast educates lawyers on key current environmental law issues, including the latest developments in air, water, endangered species, climate change, chemicals, and renewable energy. A national faculty of seasoned private practitioners, governmental officials, law professors, and public interest advocates will cover what to expect from the change of...

The United Kingdom (UK) completed its withdrawal from the European Union (EU) on December 31, 2020, and, as of January 1, 2021, is a “third country” from the EU perspective.  Companies worldwide must be aware of the significant implications for compliance under the following newly established independent chemical regulatory regimes:  the Great Britain (England, Scotland, and Wales) (GB) Biocidal Products Regulation (GB BPR); the GB Classification, Labeling, and Packaging Regulation...