The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced on August 27, 2020, that it submitted an information collection request (ICR), “Chemical-Specific Rules under the Toxic Substances Control Act Section 8(a); Certain Nanoscale Materials” to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review and approval in accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA).  85 Fed. Reg. 52995.  The ICR covers reporting and recordkeeping requirements for persons who manufacture or process chemical substances as nanoscale materials.  Under Section 8(a) of the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA), EPA requires reporting and recordkeeping for certain chemical substances as nanoscale materials.  Persons who manufacture or process these nanoscale materials must notify EPA of certain information, including production volume, methods of manufacture and processing, exposure and release information, and available health and safety information.  EPA states that the reporting of these activities will provide it “with an opportunity to evaluate the information and consider appropriate action under TSCA to reduce any risk to human health or the environment.”  EPA will use the reported information to inform its assessments of new chemical nanoscale materials submitted under TSCA Section 5.  EPA proposes to extend the ICR, which is currently approved through August 31, 2020.  Public comments were previously requested via the Federal Register on January 28, 2020, during a 60-day comment period.  Comments are due September 28, 2020.

According to the notice, the entities potentially affected by this ICR are nanomaterial manufacturers and nanomaterial processors.  EPA estimates that there will be 285 respondents per year and that the total estimated burden is 40,089 hours per year.  EPA states that there is a decrease of 106,766 hours in the total estimated respondent burden compared with the ICR currently approved by OMB.  According to EPA, the decrease reflects its expectation of decreased submissions.  In the previous ICR period, the rule required an initial one-time reporting on current nanomaterials, while the reporting covered in this period requires only the reporting of new nanomaterials.  EPA notes that furthermore, the burden estimates assume that the same manufacturers will report each year and, therefore, will have already undertaken rule familiarization in the previous ICR period.  More information on EPA’s TSCA Section 8(a) rule is available in our January 12, 2017, memorandum, “EPA Promulgates Final TSCA Reporting and Recordkeeping Rule for Nanoscale Materials.”