The U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) announced on March 2, 2018, that it will begin enforcing certain requirements of the 2017 final rule on occupational exposure to beryllium in general industry, construction, and shipyards on May 11, 2018, and that it will delay enforcement of certain other standards. This column discusses the final rule and OSHA’s recent enforcement policy. ...
April 23, 2018
Lynn L. Bergeson, “EPA Proposes TSCA User Fees,” Environmental Quality Management, Volume 27, Issue 3, Spring 2018.
We all knew it was coming, and the proposal has finally arrived. On February 8, 2018, the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced that EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt signed a proposed rule regarding user fees for the administration of the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA). As amended by the Frank Lautenberg Chemical Safety for the 21st Century Act, TSCA provides the EPA the authority to levy fees on certain chemical manufacturers, including importers and processors,...
April 20, 2018
Lynn L. Bergeson, “Chemical Compliance: Deadline Looms for Prop 65,” Chemical Processing, April 20, 2018.
In just a few short months, on August 30, 2018, the California Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA) revisions to its Proposition 65 (Prop 65) Article 6 “clear and reasonable warnings” regulations will come into force. By then, companies must be compliant with the revised regulations for consumer product, occupational and environmental exposures....
The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) has published a March 23, 2018, report entitled Evaluation of in vitro methods for human hazard assessment applied in the OECD Testing Programme for the Safety of Manufactured Nanomaterials....
A petition filed under Section 21 of the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) was one of the first actions reviewed by a federal district court since TSCA was substantially rewritten in June 2016.The rulings described below pose interesting and potentially formidable challenges for TSCA stakeholders....
In December 2017, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued a final rule prohibiting entities from asserting claims of confidential business information (CBI) for certain documents related to the export, import, and transit of hazardous waste. Manufacturers that have historically relied on assertions of CBI should be aware of this change. ...
March 12, 2018
Lynn L. Bergeson, “New TSCA Inspires New Litigation,” Chemical Watch Global Business Briefing, March 2018.
When the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) was legislatively ‘modernised’ in June 2016, no one in the legal community doubted litigation was in our collective future. We have not been disappointed. The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and its legal counsel for these purposes, the US Department of Justice (DoJ), are facing multiple lawsuits in several federal appeals courts and the very real possibility of more litigation deriving from TSCA Section 21 citizen petitions in...
February 21, 2018
Lynn L. Bergeson, “EPA Proposes TSCA User Fees,” Chemical Processing, February 21, 2018.
The cost of compliance with the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) will soon rise. On February 8, 2018, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) signed off on proposed TSCA user fees. As amended by the Frank Lautenberg Chemical Safety for the 21st Century Act, TSCA authorizes the EPA to levy fees on certain chemical manufacturers, including importers and processors, to “provide a sustainable source of funding to defray resources that are available for implementation of...
Big changes are in store for regulated entities subject to Prop 65 based on a rule implemented in August 2016, but with a fast-approaching enforcement date of Aug. 30, 2018....
January 23, 2018
Lynn L. Bergeson, “Expect the EPA to Be Busy in 2018,” Chemical Processing, January 23, 2018.
The new year promises to be a busy one in the chemical area. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) hit all of its new Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) marks in timely promulgating rules or taking other steps required by the new TSCA. ...
On December 15, 2017, the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) posted a blog item entitled “WHO Guidelines to Protect Workers from Nanomaterials.” As reported in our December 13, 2017, blog item (see https://nanotech.lawbc.com/2017/12/who-publishes-guidelines-on-protecting-workers-from-potential-risks-of-manufactured-nanomaterials/), the World Health Organization (WHO) recently published WHO Guidelines on Protecting Workers from Potential Risks of...
January 2, 2018
Lynn L. Bergeson, “EPA: Mercury Merits Attention,” Chemical Processing, January 2, 2018.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) continues to implement reporting requirements pertinent to the supply, use and trade of mercury in the United States. This column provides more information and a closer look into the EPA’s October 2017 proposed rule....
December 31, 2017
Lynn L. Bergeson, “Proposition 65 warning regulations must change—and soon!,” Environmental Quality Management, Volume 27, Issue 2, Winter 2017.
Proposition 65 (Prop 65) is very much a part of the “right-to-know” landscape in California and, as we all know, Prop 65 warnings are especially visible in that state. This much is clear. What may be less clear are the sweeping changes in the “clear and reasonable warning” requirements now scheduled to take effect from August 30, 2018. This date may seem like a long way off, but it is right around the corner in...
On 23 June 2016, more than 30 million people voted in a referendum to decide whether the United Kingdom (UK) should ‘Leave’ or ‘Remain’ in the European Union (EU). The referendum turnout was 71.8 per cent and the Leave campaign won by 52 per cent to 48 per cent, making ‘Brexit’ an important and imminent probability, with potentially substantial implications for a range of stakeholders, including the chemicals industry. Between then and now, there have...
December 1, 2017
Lynn L. Bergeson, “Resetting the TSCA Inventory: Why This Is Important,” Environmental Quality Management, Volume 27, Issue 1, Fall 2017.
On August 11, 2017, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) published the third Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) framework final rule in the Federal Register, the TSCA Inventory Notification (Active-Inactive) Requirements (EPA, 2017). This final rule is now in effect. This Washington Watch column explains why the rule is important, and what stakeholders should be doing to protect their interests....
November 14, 2017
Lynn L. Bergeson, “Warning Labels: Q&A Clears Up Proposition 65,” Chemical Processing, November 14, 2017.
California’s Proposition 65 (Prop 65) has been a keen area of client interest for years. One question repeatedly asked is “what is a clear and reasonable warning?” The California Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA) released a Questions and Answers for Businesses (Q&A) document specifically covering “clear and reasonable warnings” requirements. The Q&A aims to help companies comply with new Prop 65 notice requirements that become effective next August. This...
After a decade of trying, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) now has in effect a final Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) Section 8(a) information gathering rule focusing on nanoscale materials. This article explains the final rule, what stakeholders are required to do, and by when....
The Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) is the federal gap-filling chemical control law regulating chemical substances used in applications other than food, drugs, cosmetics, and pesticides, and other uses that are regulated by other federal authorities. Chemical product innovators need to understand how TSCA, significantly amended in 2016, applies to biomass starting material, including industrial microorganisms (such as algae), intermediates, and commercial products, and build TSCA compliance...
October 30, 2017
Lynn L. Bergeson, “California Targets Cleaning Product Ingredients,” Chemical Processing, October 30, 2017.
On October 15, 2017, California governor Jerry Brown (D) signed the Cleaning Product Right to Know Act of 2017. The law requires manufacturers of cleaning products to disclose certain chemical ingredients on the product label and on the manufacturer’s website. The online disclosure requirements apply to a designated product sold in California on or after January 1, 2020, while the product label disclosure requirements cover products sold in California on or after January 1, 2021....
Products that embody tried, true, and especially cutting-edge technologies are generally embraced by retailers as sure-fire pathways to marketing success. What’s not to like about best sellers and newer, faster, cleaner, or otherwise improved products? Sometimes overlooked is what is hidden behind the technology curtain — what is the secret sauce that makes the product faster, cleaner, or better? In marketing products with new modes of action and spiffy new attributes, retailers are part...