The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced a direct final rule to delay the reporting period for PFAS.
The delay is for the October 2023 final rule requiring companies to report on per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA). The reporting period was scheduled to begin on November 12, but the final rule delays the beginning of the reporting period until July 2025 due to what the EPA calls “resource constraints.”
The reporting rule under section 8(a)(7) of TSCA is a statutory requirement established by the FY2020 National Defense Authorization Act that requires all manufacturers (including importers) of PFAS and PFAS-containing articles in any year since 2011 to report information related to chemical identity, uses, volumes made and processed, byproducts, environmental and health effects, worker exposure, and disposal to EPA.
“The 2023 reporting rule will provide EPA, its partners, and the public with the largest-ever dataset of PFAS manufactured and used in the United States, and is a key action in EPA’s PFAS Strategic Roadmap,” the EPA says. “To effectively research, monitor and regulate PFAS, EPA needs to be able to better understand who is using PFAS, how they are being used, and in what quantities they are being used, among other information. The rule will produce actionable data that can be used by EPA, as well as state, local, and Tribal governments to address PFAS pollution.”
A Result of 'Competing Priorities'
The EPA says “as a result of competing priorities, many of which related to meeting statutory deadlines, EPA’s TSCA program significantly reduced its IT operating budget in FY 2024 to prevent overspending of resources, which resulted in less funding for the contractual support EPA relies on for much of its IT efforts.”
The agency cited “the budget reductions stopped ongoing software development and impacted operations and maintenance activities associated with both the Central Data Exchange and TSCA confidential business information-based applications, which are critical to the agency’s TSCA data collections, including for this rule.” The EPA says “as a result, the agency software application that will collect the PFAS data will not be ready by the original November 2024 reporting period opening date and it will thus be impossible for submitters to begin to submit data on that date.”
The American Chemistry Council issued a statement on the EPA’s proposal to delay the rule.
"We appreciate the EPA’s willingness to collaborate with industry and downstream users of PFAS chemistries to ensure the CDX system is thoroughly tested and ready for data submission before opening this unprecedented and significant reporting,” the ACC says.
“As we have communicated to the EPA, there are substantial concerns that the CDX system and the 8(a)(7) reporting platform have not been comprehensively tested to help ensure their functionality. The 8(a)(7) reporting is expected to involve a large number of submitters, many of whom are unfamiliar with TSCA reporting and the CDX, inputting vast amounts of data elements into this system. It is critical that this system functions properly to help ensure high data quality and protect confidential business information, including trade secrets and national security interests.
“We look forward to engaging with this proposal and working to educate downstream users on this update."
“The EPA’s proposal to delay the implementation of this reporting period can allow industry and the value chain time to beta test the reporting tool and to provide feedback on the functionality of the system and tools. The EPA must assure stakeholders that its systems are fully functional and will not compromise confidential business information or trade secrets during these submission processes.
“ACC and its members are committed to enhancing the quantity and quality of information on PFAS, but we remain concerned with the overly broad approach and the unprecedented breadth of information being requested by this rule. PFAS are a diverse group of chemistries integral to thousands of products we use daily. They are an essential enabling technology for key sectors of the economy, including defense, automotive, semiconductors, electronics, alternative energy, pharmaceuticals, healthcare, building and construction, and agriculture.
“We look forward to engaging with this proposal and working to educate downstream users on this update."
