THE U.S.Environmental Protection Agency(EPA) has issued two new documents for recipients of Section 4 test orders under the Toxic Substances Control Act(TSCA).The good news is these documents offer relief to stakeholders who otherwise would be responsible for chemical testing costs for certain chemicals they produced or imported.The August 5,2022,document entitled"Policies Regarding Manufacturers and Processors Subject to TSCA Section 4(a) Testing"provides two policies:Policy 1.Companies engaged in manufacturing activities for a chemical substance during the five years prior to the projected signature date or effective date of a Section 4(a) action(i.e.,a rule,consent agreement,or order) will generally be included in the scope of the action.The EPA may apply a longer or shorter period of time when appropriate in specific cases,however.The agency states that"[w]here(1) a five-year period fails to identify a sufficient number of manufacturers,(2) fairness reasons warrant inclusion of a manufacturer,especially a high-volume manufacturer,of the chemical substance with less recent manufacturing,(3) a chemical substance has persistence and/or bioaccumulative properties that warrant inclusion of companies that contributed to potential exposures associated with such substance,or(4) where warranted for other reasons,which the Agency would explain as part of the Section 4(a) action,EPA will consider a longer manufacturing period than five years for the identification of companies as manufacturers subject to TSCA Section 4 testing obligations for a given chemical substance."An example of where the EPA may not subject a company that has manufactured in the past five years to testing requirements would be a firm that"may have gone into bankruptcy and be in the hands of receivers who do not seek to continue the company's manufacturing activities involving the chemical substance subject to the testing requirements."
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