Mercury Added to TSCA Reporting Requirements

In late June 2018, US EPA finalized rulemaking that would require manufacturers, importers, distributors, and users of mercury and mercury-added to products to report to EPA about their activities. This new chemical reporting requirement, issued under TSCA Section 8(b)(10), will enable the EPA to fulfill a statutory mandate under Frank R. Lautenberg Chemical Safety for the 21stCentury Act. It states that, “Once every three years, EPA must release an inventory of mercury supply, use and trade from the data collected from industry”.

EPA estimates that this new reporting requirement will result in over 72,600 hours and $5.8 million in its first year of reporting. This will include the time that is spent while learning the new rule and determining the applicability of the new rule.

The provision of the new rule will exclude some facilities that have mercury on site from being required to report. Groups that are not covered by the new mercury reporting requirement include:

• Persons who generate, handle, or manage mercury-containing waste.

• Persons who only manufacture mercury as an impurity.

• Persons who are engaged in activities involving mercury notwith the purpose of obtaining an immediate or eventual commercial advantage.

Along with these new provisions, EPA is also working on exemptions for facilities that already report for mercury and mercury-containing products under TSCA Section 8(a) Chemical Data Reporting (CDR), and the IMERC Mercury-Added Products Database.

To maintain compliance with EPA’s TSCA reporting, recordkeeping, and chemical management rules, you can learn what you must know through TSCA’s training. The TSCA Regulations Online Course covers all the detailed rules for handling, storing, processing, and manufacturing regulated chemical substances. To avoid TSCA fines, which are now as high as $38,114 per day, per violation, learn what you must record, report and keep on file.