EPA PFAS Reporting Rule: Current Requirements, Scope Issues, and Compliance Strategies

This CLE webinar will guide practitioners through the EPA's current final PFAS reporting rule. The panel will discuss who is subject to the rule, the scope of reportable information, the level of due diligence to be performed by submitters when gathering data, current reporting deadlines, proposed scope changes, and other key requirements. The panel will address the possible effects of the wide-ranging rule on future EPA PFAS rulemaking and PFAS litigation and describe best practices for compliance during the current reporting period.

On Sept. 28, 2023, the EPA released its long-awaited final PFAS reporting rule, "Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) Reporting and Recordkeeping Requirements for Perfluoroalkyl and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances (PFAS)." The final rule revises the 2021 draft rule in significant ways, is wide-ranging in impact, and may affect companies that do not even realize they are subject to the rule.

The final rule expands the definition of PFAS using a structural definition, rather than a discrete list of chemicals, to avoid inadvertently limiting the scope of reporting. The rule requires that any entity that has manufactured or imported PFAS must evaluate whether it is required to submit information covering a 12-year period from 2011 through 2022 and prepare for the EPA's current reporting timetable.

The rule provides the categories of information that should be produced and describes the reporting standard as information "known to or reasonably ascertainable by" the submitter. While this standard is narrower than the scope originally proposed in the draft rule, covered entities will still need to carefully perform their due diligence, examining internal records and undertaking external outreach to suppliers. The rule has imposed broad obligations, even as EPA has proposed certain changes to the scope of reporting requirements. Therefore, compliance may prove to be a challenge for companies that generally have not kept records of such information.

Given the significant scope of information to be produced and the risk of penalties for noncompliance, counsel should be familiar with the rule and how to best advise clients to begin gathering the data required in order to meet the EPA's deadline while monitoring possible changes that may affect who must report and what information must be submitted.

Listen as our expert panel guides practitioners through the EPA's impactful final PFAS reporting rule and provides best practices for compliance during the current reporting period, including practical guidance on deadline management, diligence, and advising clients amid possible regulatory changes.