IMPACT:  The main entities impacted by this rule are chemical manufacturers who import raw materials.  Blenders of a product are not required to comply with the reporting, as long as the material was not imported directly.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has issued a final rule that amends the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) section 8(a) Inventory Update Reporting (IUR) rule, and changes its name to the Chemical Data Reporting (CDR) rule. The CDR enables the EPA to collect and publish information on the manufacturing, processing and use of commercial chemical substances and mixtures on the TSCA Chemical Substance Inventory. This includes current information on chemical substance production volumes, manufacturing sites and how the chemical substances are used. This information helps the Agency determine whether people or the environment are potentially exposed to reported chemical substances.

The IUR rule required U.S. manufacturers of chemical substances listed on the TSCA Inventory, to report the identity of chemical substances manufactured during the reporting year, in quantities of 25,000 lbs. or greater at any single site they own or control, to the EPA every 5 years.

Persons manufacturing chemical substances were required to report information, such as company name, site location and other identifying information, production volume of the reportable chemical substance and exposure-related information associated with the manufacture of each reportable chemical substance. This exposure-related information included the physical form and maximum concentration of the chemical substance and the number of potentially exposed workers.

The EPA has modified the IUR rule to meet four goals:

1. To tailor the information collected to better meet the Agency's overall information needs.
2. To increase its ability to effectively provide public access to the information.
3. To obtain new and updated information relating to potential exposures to a subset of chemical substances listed on the TSCA Inventory.
4. To improve the usefulness of the information reported. 

The EPA believes that expanding the range of chemical substances for which more in-depth processing and use information is to be reported, and adjusting the specific reported information, will accomplish these goals.

The EPA is amending this rule to require submission of information that will better address the Agency's and public information needs, improve the usability and reliability of the reported data, and ensure that data are available in a timely manner. The EPA is requiring electronic reporting of CDR information and modifying reporting requirements.  This final rule went into effect on September 15, 2011.

Specifically, EPA is making the following changes:

The definition of "manufacturer" means a person who manufactures a chemical substance. The term "commercial use" means the use of a chemical substance or a mixture containing a chemical substance (including as part of an article) in a commercial enterprise providing saleable goods or services. The slightly modified definition of "consumer use" is the use of a chemical substance or a mixture containing a chemical substance (including as part of an article) when sold to or made available to consumers for their use. Finally, "industrial function" means the intended physical or chemical characteristic for which a chemical substance or mixture is consumed as a reactant; incorporated into a formulation, mixture, reaction product or article; repackaged; or used.

The Agency is also changing the reporting frequency from every 5 years to every 4 years. The Agency has determined that reporting every 5 years is too infrequent and believes that returning reporting to every 4 years will provide sufficient data to meet Agency and public needs. After the 2012 submission period, the next submission period under the CDR rule will occur in 2016.

The EPA made three changes to the reporting thresholds requirements. The EPA is replacing the 300,000 lbs. reporting threshold for processing and use information by phasing in a lower threshold. For the 2012 submission period, the threshold for reporting processing and use information is 100,000 lbs. In subsequent submission periods, the reporting threshold will be 25,000 lbs. The EPA put in place a phased-in approach, because it provides submitters with an opportunity to become familiar with the reporting requirements while at the same time, providing much needed and more complete processing and use information on chemical substances of interest to the Agency.

The EPA is also replacing the 25,000 lbs. threshold for specific chemical substances that are the subject of particular TSCA rules and/or orders. The new reporting threshold for these chemical substances is 2,500 lbs., which is effective for the 2016 submission period and subsequent submission periods. In its proposed rule, the EPA wanted to eliminate the threshold entirely, which would have required manufacturers of such chemical substances to report under the CDR rule regardless of the production volume. However, after reviewing the comments received, the EPA has decided to set a de minimis threshold and to delay its implementation. Beginning with the 2016 submission period, the reporting threshold will be reduced to 2,500 lbs. for these chemical substances. In the future, EPA may find it necessary to collect information on chemical substances at a reporting threshold below the 2,500 threshold introduced in this rule.

The method used to determine whether a manufacturer is subject to CDR reporting is also being modified. Reporting is now required if the production volume of a chemical substance meets, or exceeds, the 25,000 lbs. threshold in any calendar year since the last principal reporting year. Therefore, manufacturers are required to report under the CDR rule if they manufacture a chemical listed on the TSCA Inventory during the principal reporting year (i.e., 2011 for the 2012 submission period); the chemical substance is not otherwise exempt; and the associated production volume at a site met or exceeded 25,000 lbs. during the principal reporting year.

For submission periods subsequent to the 2012 submission period, the determination of the need to report is based on whether, for any calendar year since the last principal reporting year, a chemical substance was manufactured at a site in production volumes of 25,000 lbs. or greater.

The EPA is finalizing this change because of the mounting evidence that many chemical substances, even large production volume chemical substances, often experience wide fluctuations in production volumes from year to year. This can result in the production volume of a chemical substance exceeding the threshold for several years, then falling below the threshold during the CDR principal reporting year.

The EPA believes that, using production volume reporting for all years since the last principal reporting year to determine reporting obligations, will yield a much more accurate picture of the chemical substance currently in commerce, ensuring proper review under the EPA's risk screening, assessment and providing better information to the public.

A modification of what needs to be included in the reporting documents has been changed. Specifically:

a. The name and address belonging to the parent company - manufacturers are required to report the company name and Dun & Bradstreet number to identify the company.

b. Technical contact - manufacturers are required to provide a technical contact for their CDR submission.

c.  Chemical identification - manufacturers are required to submit the correct chemical identity and number for each chemical, including the current Chemical Abstracts Index Name.

d. Production volume - manufacturers are required to report the production volume for each chemical substance for which they submit a CDR report.

a. In addition to the production volume for the principal reporting year, the EPA is requiring the reporting of production volume for 2010 for the 2012 submission period, and for each of the years since the last principal reporting year beginning with the 2016 submission period. This requirement will be effective after the 2012 reporting cycle.

e. Volume on-site - manufacturers are required to report the volume of a manufactured chemical substance used at the reporting site.

f.  Physical location of imported chemicals - the EPA is adding a requirement to report whether an imported chemical is physically at the reporting site.

g. Recycled or reused - the EPA is adding a requirement to indicate whether a manufactured chemical substance, such as a byproduct, is being recycled, remanufactured, reprocessed or reused.

h. Concentration ranges - the EPA is eliminating gaps in the ranges used to report concentrations.

The ranges are:

a.  Less than 1% by weight.

b. At least 1% but less than 30% by weight.

c. At least 30% but less than 60% by weight.

d. At least 60% but less than 90% by weight

e. At least 90% by weight.

i. Designation of consumer of commercial use - the EPA is requiring submitters to designate, via checkbox, whether the indicated product category is a consumer or a commercial use, or both.

j. Number of commercial workers likely to be exposed - the EPA is requiring that submitters report the total number of commercial workers, including those at sites not under the submitter's control, that are reasonably likely to be exposed while using the reportable chemical substance, with respect to each commercial use. The ranges will be:

a. Fewer than 10 workers.

b. At least 10 but fewer than 25 workers.

c. At least 25 but fewer than 50 workers.

d. At least 50 but fewer than 100 workers.

e. At least 100 but fewer than 500 workers.

f. At least 500 but fewer than 1,000 workers.

g. At least 1,000 but fewer than 10,000 workers.

h. At least 10,000 workers.

Finally, the Agency is requiring electronic reporting of the CDR data, using an Agency web-based reporting tool (e-CDRweb) to submit CDR reports to EPA's Central Data Exchange (CDX).

To read the final rule in its entirety, follow this Link .