EPA Extends Deadline to Report on Novel PFAS TSCA Reporting Rule
At a Glance
- EPA extended the compliance deadline for companies to report to EPA by about eight months.
- For most companies, the due date is now January 11, 2026, instead of May 8, 2025.
- For small businesses that only import articles that contain PFAS, the due date is now July 11, 2026, instead of November 10, 2025.
- As a reminder, this rule covers more than 1,400 different PFAS and is estimated to impact directly more than 130,000 companies.
On September 5, 2024, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) finalized a rule providing much needed breathing room for the thousands of companies analyzing their company and supply chains to determine if their products or chemicals contain per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS). EPA extended the deadline to report 12 years of data for most companies from May 8, 2025, to January 11, 2026, and for small businesses that only import articles containing PFAS to July 11, 2026.
Background
On September 28, 2023, EPA finalized a rule titled, “Toxic Substances Control Act Reporting and Recordkeeping Requirements for Perfluoroalkyl and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances” (TSCA PFAS Reporting Rule), as detailed in our previous update.
The TSCA PFAS Reporting Rule requires all companies that manufacture or import certain per- or polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) or any article that contains those PFAS in any year from January 1, 2011, to December 31, 2022, to report to EPA.
What’s New and Why?
On September 5, 2024, EPA issued a direct final rule (DFR)1 extending the compliance period for submitting the TSCA PFAS Reporting Rule reports to EPA by about eight months. The new due dates are:
- For most companies: January 11, 2026, instead of May 8, 2025, and
- For small businesses that only import articles: July 11, 2026, instead of November 10, 2025.
EPA is extending the deadline because “the reporting timeline is no longer tenable and maintaining that deadline would require entities to submit data before EPA has the technological capacity in place to accept the data.” (emphasis added). The extension focuses less on the burden on the regulated community and more on the burden on the Agency.
EPA states that it does not currently have the technological capacity and resources due to:
- Increases in responsibilities through the passage of the 2016 Frank D. Lautenberg Chemical Safety for the 21st Century Act that significantly expanded responsibilities to the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA),
- A reduction in funds for the EPA Office of Pollution Prevention and Toxics,
- The significant amount of information requested by the TSCA PFAS Reporting Rule, and
- The need for an industry testing period for the electronic submission program.
- EPA is publishing the action as a DFR because EPA believes the rule is noncontroversial and anticipates no adverse comments. Even if EPA receives significant adverse comments and is required to go through a public comment process, we believe that the compliance dates will be extended.
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