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We write to alert you to an important and imminent deadline. Consideration for confidential business information (CBI) for hazardous substance ingredient disclosure on safety data sheets (SDS) will require formal submission and approval in South Korea starting January 16, 2021. Background On January 15, 2019, the South Korean government announced a major amendment to the South Korean Occupational Safety and Health Act (K-OSHA). The amendment...
December 17, 2020
Final Risk Evaluation for Perchloroethylene Finds 59 Conditions of Use Pose Unreasonable Risks to Workers, ONUs, Consumers, and Bystanders
On December 14, 2020, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released the final risk evaluation for perchloroethylene. Of the 61 conditions of use that EPA reviewed, EPA found that 59 present unreasonable risks to workers, occupational non-users (ONU), consumers, and bystanders. The conditions of use that EPA determined do not present an unreasonable risk are distribution in commerce and industrial and commercial use in lubricants and greases for penetrating lubricants and cutting...
December 17, 2020
Lynn L. Bergeson Quoted in Bloomberg Environment Article “Virus Prompts EPA to Let Chemical Makers Split Risk Analysis Fees”
On December 17, 2020, Bloomberg Environment featured comments by Lynn L. Bergeson, Managing Partner, Bergeson & Campbell, P.C. (B&C®) regarding a recent U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) decision to allow chemical manufacturers to split certain risk evaluation fee payments to the agency. [T]he due date for the second payment offers some clarity for clients, said Lynn L. Bergeson, managing partner of Bergeson and Campbell, PC, which specializes in...
As 2021 begins, new safety data sheet (SDS) requirements in the European Union (EU) will enter into force. Commission Regulation (EU) 2020/878 of June 18, 2020, amends Annex II to Regulation (EC) No 1907/2006 on the Registration, Evaluation, Authorization, and Restriction of Chemicals (REACH). The requirements for SDS layout and content appear in REACH, while the hazard classification criteria and labeling requirements are derivative of Regulation (EC) No 1272/2008 on the Classification,...
On December 10, 2020, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced the availability of a draft compliance guide that outlines which imported articles are covered by EPA’s July 2020 final significant new use rule (SNUR) that prohibits companies from manufacturing, importing, processing, or using certain long-chain per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) without prior EPA review and approval. The draft guide will be “the official compliance guide for imported...
December 10, 2020
Manufacturer and Importer Liability under the TSCA Fees Rule for EPA-Initiated Risk Evaluations: An Opaque and Evolving Story
Under Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) Section 26(b), as amended by the Frank R. Lautenberg Chemical Safety for the 21st Century Act (Lautenberg Act), the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is authorized to collect fees from chemical manufacturers (defined to include importers under TSCA) to defray a portion of the EPA costs associated with TSCA implementation efforts. The TSCA Fees Rule, which became effective on October 18, 2018, requires payment of fees for eight categories of...
December 1, 2020
EPA Releases Draft Scope Documents for Risk Evaluations of DIDP and DINP for Public Comment
On November 27, 2020, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced the availability of the draft scope documents for the manufacturer-requested risk evaluations of diisodecyl phthalate (DIDP) and diisononyl phthalate (DINP). 85 Fed. Reg. 76077; 85 Fed. Reg. 76072. EPA notes in its November 25, 2020, announcement that both DIDP and DINP “belong to a family of chemicals called phthalates and are commonly used as plasticizers in the production of plastic and...
With the fast-approaching end of the transition period between the United Kingdom (UK) and the European Union (EU), the Bergeson & Campbell, P.C. (B&C®) podcast All Things Chemical™ has released two episodes discussing the many changes this transition will bring about for those in the chemical industry.What’s Going on with the Brexit Transition Period? — A Conversation with Jane S. Vergnes, Ph.D. Lynn L. Bergeson, Managing Partner, B&C, and President...
December 1, 2020
Lynn L. Bergeson and Eve C. Gartner, “The essentials of TSCA practice,” ABA Section of Environment, Energy, and Resources Trends, November/December 2020.
The Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) is not the arcane federal law it once was. Amended in 2016 in response to a demand so loud and persistent from nongovernmental organizations, consumers, and, eventually, the industrial chemical community that Congress could no longer ignore it, TSCA is now a force with which to be reckoned. While the U.S Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) implementation of the 2016 Lautenberg Act that amended TSCA invites criticism among stakeholders, there is...
November 24, 2020
EPA Evaluates 54 Conditions of Use for TCE, Finding That 52 Present an Unreasonable Risk
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released the final risk evaluation for trichloroethylene (TCE) on November 23, 2020. 85 Fed. Reg. 75010 (Nov. 24, 2020). Of the 54 conditions of use that EPA reviewed, EPA found that 52 present an unreasonable risk to workers, occupational non-users (ONU), consumers, and bystanders. EPA determined that distribution in commerce and consumer use of TCE in pepper spray do not present an unreasonable risk. EPA also found no...