The EPA announced on Thursday, Sept. 16, 2010, its final revisions to the agency's procedures for developing Enforceable Consent Agreements (ECAs) to generate test data under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA). The main features of the ECA process that the EPA is changing include when and how to initiate negotiations and inserting a firm deadline at which negotiations will terminate. The agency is also deleting, modifying, or consolidating several sections of 40 CFR part 790 to place the ECA provisions in one section and the Interagency Testing Committee (ITC) provisions in a separate section, to make it clearer that there is one ECA negotiation procedure applicable to all circumstances when an ECA would be appropriate, and to make conforming changes in other sections that reference the ECA procedures.

The American Chemistry Council supported the change, and had a few suggestions for changes that were not by-letter adopted in the final rule, but the agency's response hints that the suggestions will, procedurally, be implemented.

ECAs are designed to provide the EPA with data identified as necessary to evaluate a particular chemical substance without the need for the agency to first make the risk- or exposure-based findings for, or promulgate, a TSCA section 4 test rule, and without introducing delays inherent in the rulemaking process. ECAs were intended to permit the EPA to obtain test data more quickly than test rules, while preserving opportunity for input from the public and the affected manufacturer(s).

The final rule is effective Oct. 18, 2010.

SOURCE: Federal Register