EPA Celebrates Anniversary of Lautenberg Act by Releasing Final CBI Guidance, Animal Testing Strategy, and Final Mercury Reporting Rule

On June 22, 2018, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced that it has met its statutory responsibilities under the Frank R. Lautenberg Chemical Safety for the 21st Century Act (Lautenberg Act) to release guidance and policy on confidential business information (CBI), a strategy to reduce animal testing, and a final mercury reporting rule.  As noted in our June 29, 2016, memorandum, “TSCA Reform:  EPA Publishes First Year Implementation Plan,” the Lautenberg Act included mandatory actions for EPA to complete by June 22, 2018, two years after former President Barack Obama signed the Act, which significantly amended the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA).  EPA lists the following milestones that it has completed at the two-year anniversary:

• Final strategy to reduce animal testing;
• Final rule on reporting mercury manufacturing and imports;
• Guidance for state, tribal, and local governments, and medical personnel and emergency responders on sharing CBI; 
• Policy and procedures for assigning unique identifiers to track better information on chemicals while protecting CBI; and 
• Guidance on structurally descriptive generic names.

In addition, registration is still available for Bergeson & Campbell, P.C.‘s (B&C^®) June 25, 2018, complimentary webinar, “TSCA at 2: An Update on Implementation and Hot Topics.”  Speakers will include:

• Nancy B. Beck, Ph.D., DABT®, Deputy Assistant Administrator, Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention, EPA;
• Misty L. Bogle, Global Product Stewardship Manager, Vertellus;
• Michael Gould, EH&S Committee Chairman, RadTech North America; and
• Lynn L. Bergeson, Managing Partner, Bergeson & Campbell, P.C.

More information on these developments will be available in our forthcoming memorandum and posted to our Recent Regulatory Developments web page, as well as in our subsequent TSCA blog items.