RegAlerts for Managers: 2022 January

RegAlerts

A periodic list of a few regulatory issues that may affect PCA members

2022-01

OSHA

The US Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has proposed changes to the Safety Data Sheets under the Hazard Communication Standard (HCS) to add every possible chemical reaction that a substance can undergo by downstream users; and much narrower concentration ranges for the substance. The first is almost impossible because a manufacturer cannot predict all the chemical reactions a product will undergo and the second is a confidential business issue. An industry alliance has asked OSHA to withdraw these but OSHA said it is "working expeditiously to finalize the rule", expected no earlier than December. Legal action is expected.

TSCA

Just like back in 2017, the USEPA has once again cited plans to develop a “tiered data reporting” scheme under TSCA. Industry has the same concerns about the concept of ‘pre-prioritization’ and how the agency identifies priority chemicals for risk evaluation. Industry is concerned at the "enormous potential" for a wide array of companies to face a burdensome new annual reporting mandate that could stretch for decades. ACC has commented.

EMISSION STANDARDS

The EPA will reconsider and potentially tighten its air toxics standards for synthetic organic chemical manufacturing sites between 2022 and 2024. This could affect hundreds of chemical sites.

REACH REVISIONS

The European Commission is planning a large re-write of the REACH regulations to meet its goal of a completely non-toxic Europe. This will affect companies manufacturing or importing into Europe. Included will be new hazard classifications, mixtures, strengthening compliance, and restriction processes. Incomplete dossiers could be removed making production or import illegal. There is much more. A public consultation will close in April. ACC will comment.

CANADA

Although there was little reference to it in the “Speech from the Throne” the Canadian government has told us informally that they are committed to reform the Canadian Environmental Protection Act (CEPA)along previously discussed lines. We will have to see if it affects pine chemicals, almost all of which are imported.

Canada has declared plastics to be Schedule 1 Toxic Substances under CEPA. The PCA (and many other industries and the US government) wrote the Canadian government protesting (without success) that using a chemical control law to regulate garbage was inappropriate. Nonetheless Canada intends to use this to ban five single-use plastics. This is hot area for regulation everywhere  and may affect the use of pine chemicals in adhesives and packaging inks.

ECHA TEXTILES,  LEATHER AND FUR RESTRICTIONS

The European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) had proposed to restrict the use of all rosin derivatives  in textiles, furs and leather goods in Europe because they were all purportedly skin sensitizers. PCA and H4R Consortium both wrote detailed comments to ECHA pointing out that only rosin and tall-oil rosin could be considered skin-sensitizers –and ECHA agreed, so only these two substances will be restricted.

POLYMER REGISTRATION IN EUROPE

Unlike in the USA and Canada, polymers do not have to be registered under REACH; this will change. This difficult issue is an important one for pine chemical producers in Europe. ECHA hopes to have the registration approach finalized sometime in 2022 but it seems doubtful that they can do this. Both HARRPA and PCA are paying close attention due to the significant additional testing that this may require.

BIOBASED PRODUCTS (WHICH INCLUDES PINE CHEMICALS)

According to a recent report by the USDA, in 2017, the biobased products industry supported 4.6 million American jobs through direct, indirect and induced contributions; contributed $470 billion to the U.S. economy; generated 2.79 jobs in other sectors of the economy for every biobased job; displaced approximately 9.4 million barrels of oil annually and has the potential to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by an estimated 12.7 million metric tons of CO2 equivalents per year.

CEFIC has established a new sector group for biomass chemicals called BioChem Europe. Our sister organization in Europe, HARRPA, will not be subsumed into this, as far as we know.

LOUISVILLE CHARTER FOR SAFER CHEMICALS

More than 100 US NGOS signed onto a blueprint to transform the chemicals sector, calling for "fundamental and comprehensive reform" to safeguard ecological and human wellbeing. Among their demands, they want industry to cease manufacturing persistent or bioaccumulative or very mobile substances, mandate non-toxic alternatives, restrict potentially concerning substance classes and ensure civic participation in chemicals-related decisions.