On Oct. 31, 2011, the California Department of Toxic Substances Control (DTSC) released an informal draft of their Safer Consumer Products Regulations (SCPR). The proposal came after the California Secretary for Environmental Protection instructed DTSC to stop issuing proposed regulations and to instead “take additional time to be responsive to the concerns raised and revisit the proposed regulations.”

Background
Concerns raised with the earlier regulation included the proposed exemption of certain chemicals; the decision to focus on children’s, personal care, and household cleaning products during the first five years; and the process by which chemicals of concern (COC) and priority products (PP) were identified and alternative assessments (AA) were conducted. In the revised regulations, DTSC has removed exemptions for unintentionally added chemicals, as well as chemicals for which there is “no exposure pathway.” The DTSC has also eliminated the initial focus for certain types of products, and has expanded the criteria and processes by which COCs and PPs are identified and prioritized and AAs are conducted.

Stages of regulation
The informal draft regulations anticipate implementing the core provisions of the program in four stages, as follows:
• DTSC to establish a chemCOC list: Th DTSC will first establish a COC List within 30 days after the effective date of the regulations. DTSC said that the list will include approximately 3,000 chemicals, which are defined in Section 69502.2(a) as substances that exhibits a hazard trait or environmental or toxicological endpoints as identified by the Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment pursuant to Health and Safety Code Section 25256.1 and meets one or more of certain criteria.
• DTSC to develop a PP list: DTSC will evaluate and prioritize products that contain COCs to develop a list of PPs for which AAs must be conducted.
• Companies must identify their PPs and conduct AAs if not exempt: DTSC will require “responsible entities” – including manufacturers, importers and retailers who sell products in California – to notify DTSC within 60 days of a PP’s listing that its product does or does not qualify for an exemption.
• DTSC will identify and impose regulatory responses on PPs/COCs: Once a Final AA Report is submitted and DTSC determines it is compliant (i.e., not deficient), the department will specify a proposed due date for implementation of the regulatory response after considering the complexity of implementing such a response.

Discussion
The availability of the regulations provides a useful snapshot of the Green Ribbon Science Panel’s thinking after months of deliberations. Unfortunately, the informal draft regulation is quite cumbersome with its many definitions, criteria and procedures.

Companies with consumer products in the commerce stream in California will need to notify DTSC that their products are PPs (or cease to enter the product in the stream of commerce in California or satisfy a de minimis exemption); that they can perform an AA and prepare a Preliminary AA Report and Final AA Report; and that they are able to comply with any regulatory responses that are applicable to their products or that DTSC determines are necessary.

Companies also may need to respond to information requests from DTSC, substantiate claims when information is submitted as a trade secret and potentially utilize the dispute resolution procedures to dispute certain actions taken by DTSC. DTSC said that these responsibilities may be fulfilled by a consortium, trade association or similar organization. Yet, within the regulations, DTSC does not mention conditions or criteria regarding the methods in which issues (e.g., formation, compensation) will be resolved.

The regulations are currently available at www.dtsc.ca.gov/LawsRegsPolicies/Regs/upload/SCP-Regulations-Informal-Draft-10312011.pdf. PE