The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is scheduled to publish a direct final rule on September 5, 2024, that will amend the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) regulation with reporting and recordkeeping requirements for perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) to make a “one-time modification” to change the data submission period from November 12, 2024, through May 8, 2025, to July 11, 2025, through January 11, 2026. For any reporter who is reporting exclusively as an article importer and is also considered a small manufacturer, the submission period will begin on July 11, 2025, and last for 12 months: July 11, 2025, through July 11, 2026. EPA is also taking action to correct an inadvertent error in the rulemaking by revising the text “published study reports” under the requirement to submit Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development’s (OECD) Harmonised Templates (OHT) to the correct requirement of submitting OHTs for “unpublished study reports.” EPA states that there are no other changes to the reporting and recordkeeping requirements in the existing rule. The direct final rule will be effective 60 days after publication in the Federal Register. If EPA receives adverse comment 30 days after the date of publication, it will publish a timely withdrawal in the Federal Register informing the public that this direct final rule will not take effect.

According to the direct final rule, EPA “is compelled to take this action in response to constraints on the timely development and testing of the software being developed to collect information pursuant to this reporting rule (i.e., the rule’s reporting application).” EPA states that the postponement of the submission period will result in additional time for the reporting application to be completed and sufficiently tested “to ensure that reporting entities do not experience issues that prevent their submission of data.” EPA “further anticipates” being able to review submitted data, including confidential business information (CBI) claims, and prepare non-CBI data for broader dissemination more efficiently, if the full data collection infrastructure is established prior to the start of the submission period. EPA states that this action is consistent with the public interest “because it is designed to facilitate compliance with the rule and to ensure that the collection includes accurate data on manufactured PFAS in the United States. Any impact on the regulated community is expected to be beneficial given that the extension provides additional time to submit accurate reports to EPA.”