Export Notification; Proposed Change to Reporting Requirements

Filed on regulations.gov — full text not in the inline record.

API supports EPA?s overall goal of amending the TSCA export notification regulations to better focus the resources of companies and government in meeting the statutory requirements of TSCA section 12(b). In the attached document, we first offer comments on EPA?s specific proposal and then outline other suggested changes. API supports many of the changes that EPA has proposed, but we think additional changes are necessary to achieve meaningful burden reduction, which can be accomplished without diminishing protection of human health and the environment. API?s comments are summarized as follows: ?API supports EPA?s proposal to extend eligibility for one-time notification to additional chemical substances. We also support the proposed de minimis exemption, which should apply in addition to the current policy that export notification is required only for chemical substances known to be present in an exported mixture. ?We oppose the Agency?s proposal to require repeat export notification from industry to EPA for a chemical and country when a chemical that is already subject to export notification becomes subject to a new TSCA requirement. ?API requests that EPA provide exemptions in the export notification regulations for byproducts, impurities, and R&D substances?as it does in most other TSCA requirements. ?We urge the Agency to state that export notification is not required for exports of Class 2 chemical substances that contain components that are the subject of TSCA actions. As chemical substances are uniquely identified on the TSCA Inventory, a Class 2 chemical substance should require export notification only when the Class 2 chemical substance itself is the subject of a TSCA rule or order. ?EPA should change the current requirement that export notification be sent to EPA within seven days of forming the intent to export or on the date of export, whichever is earlier. Annual notification is sufficient to meet the purposes of EPA, foreign governments, and the TSCA statute. ?EPA should implement electronic reporting as part of its initiative to improve the TSCA export notification system.