Last week, the Frank R. Lautenberg Chemical Safety for the 21st Century Act was signed into law by President Obama. This is the first major overhaul of the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) since it was enacted into law in 1976.
On the front lines, IPC advocated for TSCA reform and applauded Congress for passing this important legislation that will update our country’s chemical rules. The new law imposes a number of changes to existing responsibilities on the EPA, as well as new ones. Many of these new changes will apply to manufacturers and potentially any company that uses chemicals in its products.
In order to give companies a general timeline of what can be expected regarding the implementation of the new rules and enforcement activity, EPA has posted an Implementation Plan to outline the new chemical rules. The Implementation Plan can be viewed here.
One mandatory action of significant importance to IPC members is the new rulemaking on the reporting of byproducts sent for recycling. IPC specifically led the effort to reduce the burden on the byproducts sent for recycling. The details about this implementation can be found at the end of the Implementation Plan.
As the implementation of the new rules progress, EPA plans to provide opportunities for stakeholders’ involvement. IPC will be actively engaged in the rule making process and continue to update our membership as this process moves forward.