The US EPA has delayed the start of the submission period for its TSCA PFAS reporting rule, pushing back the reporting mandate while the agency works to finalise amendments that could dramatically shrink the number of companies required to respond.
The 9 April announcement came just days before the scheduled start of the submission window. It will keep businesses’ reporting obligations on hold until after the EPA finalises changes proposed last November to add reporting exemptions to the TSCA section 8(a)(7) rule adopted in 2023 (see box).
The reporting window will now begin 60 days following the effective date of the forthcoming rule revisions, with a "backstop start date" of 31 January 2027, according to a final rule issued in pre-publication form alongside the announcement.
According to the EPA, this delay will give companies clarity on their reporting obligations before the requirements kick in.
The pause will also give the agency more time to review the thousands of comments it received in response to the November proposal, allowing it to refine requirements and "deliver timely, actionable reporting guidance without unnecessary loopholes that could delay health‑protective decisions", it said.
The EPA said it plans to finalise the rule changes later this year, noting that the 31 January 2027 deadline is a "fallback date" that it expects to remove once it formally adopts the amendments.
The agency’s new timeline does not include a reporting deadline. Instead, the EPA said it is "deferring action on a decision regarding the duration of the submission period" and will address that question in its future rule revisions.
Under the November proposal, the six-month reporting window put forward in the 2023 rule would shrink to three months, something that several industry groups protested in comments to the agency.
According to the agency, determining an appropriate length for the submission duration "is related to other changes the agency might or might not implement" through its future rule revisions; therefore, it is deferring a decision on that issue until later.
Planned exemptions
The EPA’s November proposal would include exemptions to "reduce unnecessary or potentially duplicative reporting requirements for manufacturers", according to the agency.
The proposed exemptions would cover:
- imported articles;
- PFAS manufactured or imported in mixtures or products at de minimis concentrations of 0.1% or lower;
- certain byproducts;
- impurities;
- research and development chemicals; and
- non-isolated intermediates.
If adopted, the changes could scale back the reach of the 2023 reporting rule from potentially tens of thousands of affected companies to only a few hundred PFAS manufacturers and importers, according to EPA analyses.