EPA Extends Submission Deadline for Health and Safety Studies on High-Priority Chemicals and Organohalogen Flame Retardants

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced on September 24, 2021, that it is extending the submission deadline for manufacturers (including importers) of 50 chemicals to report data from certain unpublished health and safety studies. The deadline for the reporting rule was originally September 27, 2021, and EPA has extended the deadline until December 1, 2021, for 20 of the 50 chemicals and to January 25, 2022, for 30 of the 50 chemicals. The 50 chemicals include:

• Twenty chemicals designated by EPA as high-priority substances and currently undergoing risk evaluation under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA). The deadline for manufacturers to submit studies on these chemicals will be December 1, 2021. EPA states that this deadline “ensures that health and safety studies will be received in time for use in risk evaluations on these chemical substances.”
   
• Thirty organohalogen flame retardants being evaluated for health risks by the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) under the Federal Hazardous Substances Act (FHSA). The deadline for manufacturers to submit studies on these chemicals will be January 25, 2022.

EPA will publish a notice in the Federal Register extending the deadline. A pre-publication version of the notice is available on EPA’s website. EPA has also posted a “historic” question and answer document about reporting under TSCA Section 8(d). Detailed information about the reporting rule is available in our June 29, 2021, memorandum, “Manufacturers and Importers of 20 High-Priority Chemicals and 30 Organohalogen Flame Retardants Must Submit Data to EPA.”