EPA Updates Confidential Status of 377 Chemicals for Next Update of TSCA Inventory

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recently announced major updates relative to the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) Inventory in terms of confidential business information status. In removing the confidential status for 377 substances, their chemical identities will be made available to the general public. In this blog post, we review the topic of confidential business information (CBI) for chemicals and consider the loss of confidential status for this group of substances.

Confidential Business Information

Confidential business information, by its nature, refers to information that is considered private or restricted to the business entity that submits it. Such information is likely to have a negative impact on the business if made publicly available. CBI status may be requested by businesses for a variety of reasons, including to prevent other businesses from gaining a competitive advantage.

According to the EPA, several steps are required prior to a claimant being able to make a claim of business confidentiality under TSCA. These include:

  • determining that there is not a legal requirement for making the information available to the public
  • ascertaining there is reason to conclude that information disclosure would have a detrimental effect on the business’s competitive standing
  • determining that it is logical to conclude reverse engineering would not make the information discoverable
  • taking action to ensure the information’s confidentiality
  • general information related to the uses and functions of a chemical or mixture
  • health and safety study information for commercially distributed chemical substances
  • manufacturing volume information conveyed as particular aggregated volumes

Loss of Confidential Status

In April 2021, as a part of its continued efforts to increase information transparency, the EPA announced 390 TSCA Inventory substances whose identities were expected to lose their confidential status. Following the Agency's review of these chemicals, it was determined that 13 of the chemical identities were already present in the non-confidential (publicly available) part of the Inventory. One or more chemical manufacturers reported the remaining 377 substances’ identities as being non-confidential during one of the last several Chemical Data Reporting (CDR) rule reporting cycles (2012, 2016, or 2020).

With its forthcoming update, scheduled for next year, the 377 chemical identities will be made available in the TSCA Inventory. This list of chemical substances may be accessed on the EPA’s website.

Access to Additional Vital Information

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