OMB Approves EPA TSCA Fees Final Rule

Yesterday, the OMB’s Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) announced that it had approved a final rule from the EPA on “Fees for the Administration of the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA)”. The final rule was submitted to OIRA on November 14^th, 2023. The notice of proposed rulemaking for this action was published on January 21^st, 2021 and a supplemental NPRM was published on November 16th, 2022.

According to the Fall 2023 Unified Agenda entry for this rulemaking:

“EPA is considering comments on the 2022 supplemental proposal to its 2021 proposed updates and adjustments to the 2018 fees rule established under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) to inform the development of a final rule. TSCA requires EPA to review and, if necessary, adjust the fees every three years, after consultation with parties potentially subject to fees. With over five years of experience administering the TSCA amendments of 2016, EPA is taking this action to ensure that the fees charged accurately reflect the level of effort and resources needed to implement TSCA in the manner envisioned by Congress when it reformed the law. The supplemental proposal narrowed certain proposed exemptions for entities subject to the EPA-initiated risk evaluation fees and proposed exemptions for the test rule fee activities; proposed modifications to the self-identification and reporting requirements for EPA-initiated risk evaluation and test rule fees; proposed a partial refund of fees for premanufacture notices withdrawn at any time after the first 10 business days during the assessment period of the chemical; proposed modifications to EPA's proposed methodology for the production volume-based fee allocation for EPA-initiated risk evaluation fees in any scenario where a consortium is not formed; proposed expanding the fee requirements to companies required to submit information for test orders; proposed modifying the fee payment obligations to require payment by processors subject to test orders and enforceable consent agreements (ECA); proposed extending the timeframe for test order and test rule payments; and proposed changes to the fee amounts and the estimate of EPA's total costs for administering TSCA. During development of this rulemaking, EPA consulted and met with stakeholders that were potentially subject to fees, including public webinars in February 2021 and December 2022. This engagement will inform the final rule.”

We should see the publication of this final rule next week in the Federal Register.