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November 9, 2016

OMB Receives Prioritization Process Rule From EPA Under New TSCA

Lynn L. Bergeson

On November 7, 2016, the Office of Management and Budget’s (OMB) Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) received a pre-publication proposed rule on Procedures for Prioritization of Chemicals for Risk Evaluation Under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.  Also referred to as the “Prioritization Process Rule,” this procedural rule will stablish EPA’s process and criteria for identifying high priority chemicals for risk evaluation and low priority chemicals.  As stated in our memorandum TSCA Reform:  EPA Publishes First Year Implementation Plan, this rule is the first of three “Framework Action” rules that the Frank L. Lautenberg Chemical Safety for the 21st Century Act (new TSCA) has directed EPA to issue in final within one year of enactment, or by mid-June 2017.  For all three of these rules, the interim milestone for the proposed rules is mid-December 2016; therefore, it is anticipated that the three other rules will soon be sent to OMB for review as well. The two others are:

  • Risk Evaluation Process Rule:  A Procedural rule to establish EPA’s process for evaluating the risk of high priority chemicals; and
  • Inventory Rule:  Rule to require industry reporting of chemicals manufactured/processed in the previous ten years. Results will be used to designate active and inactive chemicals on the TSCA Inventory of existing chemicals.

There is a fourth Framework Action rule that new TSCA has directed EPA to issue as well, but it does not have a deadline for issuance in final; new TSCA only species the mid-June 2017 date as a goal:

  • Fees Rule:  EPA is authorized to collect fees to help defray the cost of implementing certain provisions and to fully defray the cost of industry-requested risk evaluations, but must put a rule in place to require fees. There is no deadline in the bill, but authority to require fees will be needed as soon as possible.

More information on the implementation of new TSCA is available in our TSCA Reform News & Information website and in our TSCA Reform memoranda.