Alert

New Challenges for Manufacturers and Importers: TSCA Reform

Why Companies Other Than Chemical Manufacturers Must Pay Attention to EPA's New "Lautenberg Act" TSCA Authority
May 26, 2016

Few companies outside the chemical industry have been paying close attention to development of the Lautenberg Act, which will make major amendments to the EPA-enforced Toxic Substances Control Act. This legislation almost certainly will be signed by President Obama within the next two weeks. It will have a major impact not only on chemical manufacturers, but on companies who use chemicals in manufacturing products and who import products. This webinar will be specifically tailored to helping companies that do not produce or distribute chemicals to get ahead of the curve about what the new bill means for them.

Register for this upcoming webinar on June 14, 2016 at 12 PM EDT.

The new legislation requires EPA to develop regulations that will impose substantial new costs and regulatory burdens on companies in virtually every industry. Those regulations will require companies to:

  1. Pay fees to support EPA efforts to develop rules evaluating chemical safety and governing the use of chemicals in the production of products;
  2. Perform studies (or share with others in the cost of performing studies) to evaluate the risks associated with the use of chemicals in products;
  3. Report a range of information to EPA; and
  4. Respond to proposals to restrict or ban the sale of their products in the U.S.

EPA’s first significant rulemaking obligation under the new law will be to prioritize chemicals (and the products containing them) for evaluation and regulation. But this is only the tip of the iceberg. The new statute also mandates that EPA initiate half a dozen other major rulemakings and make a larger number of other significant policy decisions. Most of these also could affect product manufacturers and importers.

On the other hand, the new statute also presents opportunities for product manufacturers and importers. For example, rules to be developed under it will provide a vehicle for cutting off state efforts to ban or limit product use. But yet-to-be developed regulations will define the scope of those protections.

Any company that has had to comply with requirements of the European REACH program, any of the EU’s chemical- and product-specific Directives, or the California Safer Consumer Products program will have some sense of the potential impact of this new statute.

Wiley Rein’s Environment, Safety and Product Stewardship teams have considerable experience in addressing these issues and have been following closely the development of the Lautenberg Act. On June 14 at 12 pm EDT, we will present a complimentary, one hour webinar providing an overview of the new statute’s provisions that could impact companies that are not chemical manufacturers and the forthcoming opportunities to influence implementation of those provisions. We invite you to attend.

To register for this webinar, please click here

Read Time: 2 min
Jump to top of page

Wiley Rein LLP Cookie Preference Center

Your Privacy

When you visit our website, we use cookies on your browser to collect information. The information collected might relate to you, your preferences, or your device, and is mostly used to make the site work as you expect it to and to provide a more personalized web experience. For more information about how we use Cookies, please see our Privacy Policy.

Strictly Necessary Cookies

Always Active

Necessary cookies enable core functionality such as security, network management, and accessibility. These cookies may only be disabled by changing your browser settings, but this may affect how the website functions.

Functional Cookies

Always Active

Some functions of the site require remembering user choices, for example your cookie preference, or keyword search highlighting. These do not store any personal information.

Form Submissions

Always Active

When submitting your data, for example on a contact form or event registration, a cookie might be used to monitor the state of your submission across pages.

Performance Cookies

Performance cookies help us improve our website by collecting and reporting information on its usage. We access and process information from these cookies at an aggregate level.

Powered by Firmseek