Environmental Health and Safety Blog | EHSWire

aula Kaufman, CIH

If you are a foreign or domestic business in the US who is either a chemical importer (resells for use in blending, repackaging) or chemical manufacturer (make new chemicals out of chemicals purchased from others with the exception for pharmaceutical companies), this update is about mandatory compliance with the EPA’s Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA), specifically filing the 2012 TSCA Form U “Chemical Data Report”.

Emilcott recently participated in an industry preview (the unveiling!) of the e-CDRweb tool.  Based on this peek, we are optimistic that the tool will be functional and surmountable IF all the required information is gathered together prior to preparing the submission.  As a test run, we entered simulated data and found the online tool to be logical and the built-in validation system should assist submitters with identifying inconsistent or incomplete entries.

Our conclusion: The difficulty will most likely not be the use of the e-CDRweb tool, the greater challenge will be the effort and time required to gather the right data needed for the submission.

Our advice: START GATHERING THE REQUIRED DATA NOW!!

Start with the following 2010 and 2011 inventory and volume data:

• Review the Form U data needed, consider the time you will need to obtain these data, and then allow additional time for getting follow-up, incomplete or missing information.


• Determine Co-Submitters for chemicals that are toll manufactured.


• Get the CAS number for all chemicals at or above the 25,000 lb threshold. Prescient warning:  the need to submit a CAS number or accession number for each chemical may require significant effort and time for submitters with suppliers that list “confidential” for the component.
  
  
  
  • Define which suppliers will need to be joint submitters.
  
  
  • Discuss and agree upon this with the supplier.
  
  
  
  

Get the CDX registration and authorizations completed… a multi-step, multi-party and possibly lengthy process.

• CDX registration for e-CDRweb will be available on November 1, 2011.


• Primary Authorized Official must be registered first as this activates the account.
  
  
  
  • Designate the Primary Support
  
  
  
  


• Establish the Secondary Authorized Officials (joint submitters) by chemical substance

In summary, if you were to compare filing the EPA’s TSCA submission to the IRS’s income tax form, the e-CDRweb tool is definitely going to be easier. However, understanding what to get and where to get it and then digging up the required information for the TSCA submission is going to be challenge.

If you need guidance with what data you should for the EPA TSCA 2012 CDR Submission, please contact Emilcott!

You can also subscribe to our free TSCA e-newsletter which delivers information right to your mailbox. Want more info? Enroll for our free Dec webinar by sending an email to pkaufmann@emilcott.com.

Feel free to post any questions below in the comments section and we will respond quickly.

Paula Kaufmann, CIH

If you are a foreign or domestic business in the US who is either a chemical importer (resells for use in blending, repackaging) or chemical manufacturer (make new chemicals out of chemicals purchased from others with the exception for pharmaceutical companies), this update is about mandatory compliance with the EPA’s Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA), specifically filing the 2012 TSCA Form U “Chemical Data Report”.

Information about the new TSCA CDR Form U reporting tool is rolling in from the EPA.  On September 23 ^rd the Agency hosted an hour-long webinar in which the 2012 CDR reporting requirements were reviewed and the use of the electronic Form U reporting tool (“e-CDRweb”) was demonstrated. If you missed the webinar or need a rewind, both the presentation materials and recorded webinar have been posted by the EPA at IUR/CDR – About Submissions.

Webinar Take Aways

• The Agency is emphasizing two new reporting requirements:
  
  
  
  • The standard of “known to or reasonably ascertainable by” for processing and use information (formerly “readily obtainable”)
  
  
  • The upfront Confidential Business Information (CBI) substantiation
  
  
  
  


• Both the company that contracts for the manufacture AND the toll manufacturer are now considered to be the co-manufacturers of that chemical substance


• The e-CDRweb tool is designed for joint reporting and has very specific requirements for supplier-EPA communication. Joint reporting is specifically for those instances where a supplier will not disclose the specific chemical name (or TSCA accession number) of a chemical substance or a reactant used to manufacture the TSCA chemical substance because the name is claimed confidential.


• Registration with the EPA’s Central Data Exchange (CDX) is required prior to accessing e-CDRweb.
  
  
  
  • CDX registration requires the completion of an electronic signature agreement (ESA) form that foreign suppliers must submit by mail.
  
  
  • CDX registration for e-CDRweb will be available on November 1, 2011.
  
  
  • CDX registration is a multi-part process.
  
  
  
  


• The EPA will be providing support for use of the new e-CDRweb tool.
  
  
  
  • A training webinar is tentatively scheduled for November 2011.
  
  
  • Comprehensive instructions for the 2012 TSCA Chemical Data Reporting are now online.
  
  
  
  

To summarize, the e-CDRweb tool looks like it is a much friendlier submittal tool than its predecessor, e-IURweb. The gotcha will be in the preparation of the materials so that the submittal process is easy. Like many other federal filings, understanding what to submit and why may be much more complicated than the actual filing process. The requirements that changed from the 2006 to 2012 range wildly from subtle and minor to extensive and complex.

Did you participate in the EPA’s e-CDRweb webinar? What did you think? Are there any particular “gotchas” that caught your eye?

If you need guidance with what data you should for the EPA TSCA 2012 CDR Submission, please contact Emilcott for help

• You can also subscribe to our free TSCA e-newsletter which delivers TSCA-related information right to your mailbox.


• Want more info? Enroll for our free Dec webinar by sending an email to pkaufmann@emilcott.com.

If you have any questions, feel free to post them in the comments section and we will respond quickly.