Bergeson & Campbell, P.C. (B&C®) is a Washington, D.C. law firm providing chemical and chemical product stakeholders unparalleled experience, judgment, and excellence in matters relating to TSCA, and other global chemical management programs.
EPA Publishes TSCA CBI Review Statistics
Posted on July 23, 2019 by Lynn L. Bergeson
  • Email This
  • Print
  • Share Link

By Lynn L. Bergeson and Carla N. Hutton
 
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has published statistics concerning its review of confidential business information (CBI) cases received between June 22 2016, and June 25, 2019.  The Frank R. Lautenberg Chemical Safety for the 21st Century Act, enacted in 2016, amended the CBI provisions of the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA).  Since then, EPA “has established numerous new processes, systems, and procedures to enable submitters to provide the information required when making confidentiality claims and to facilitate EPA's review, and where applicable, determinations on these claims.”  According to EPA, the statistics show EPA's progress toward meeting the requirements of TSCA Section 14(g).  EPA uses “case” to describe a submission made under a specific section of TSCA and all subsequent submissions and amendments by the same submitter that relate back to the first submission. 

CBI Review Statistics (cases received between June 22, 2016 and June 25, 2019)
Cases in which the specific chemical identity is subject to CBI review 2,177
Cases in which information other than the specific chemical identity is subject to CBI review 2,305
Cases in which both the specific chemical identity and information other than the specific chemical identity is subject to CBI review 587
Total cases subject to CBI review 5,069

 

Cases resulting in final CBI determinations
Cases with all CBI claims subject to review, approved 523
Cases with all CBI claims subject to review, denied 5
Cases with CBI claims subject to review, approved-in-part/denied-in-part 34
Cases with all CBI claims subject to review, denial - appeal period pending* 10
Total cases resulting in final CBI determinations 572

 * “Denial - appeal period pending” cases are those for which a CBI determination denying one or more CBI claims in a case has been issued to the submitter of the information, but for which the required 30-day notification period following receipt of the determination under TSCA Section 14(g)(2)(B) has not yet passed.

Cases reviewed with no final CBI determination necessary
Cases with all CBI claims screened and found to be exempt from review 1,068
Cases with all CBI claims withdrawn by submitter 415
Cases identified for CBI review, for which no determination required (e.g., in some instances, older EPA information systems do not specifically identify which information is claimed as CBI and upon review, it is determined that no claims require review) 1,012
Total cases reviewed/screened with no final CBI determination necessary 2,495

 

Cases currently undergoing CBI review
Cases currently undergoing CBI review 2,002

EPA states that later this year, it plans to publish a comprehensive list of cases subject to CBI review to be updated quarterly.  The table will include information showing the results of individual cases with completed reviews.

Tags: CBI, Section14