In our latest installment of Ask the Expert, brought to you by the team of industry experts at EHS Hero®, we look at a recent question from a subscriber asking about the regulations that require notifying customers of reportable chemicals. See what the experts had to say.
Q: What regulation requires you to notify your customer that you are sending them a chemical with an EPCRA 313 reportable chemical?
Such notifications are required under 40 CFR 372.45, titled Notification About Toxic Chemicals. Under this regulation, notification must be made by any person who owns or operates a facility that:
- Is in SIC codes 20 through 39 or a NAICS code that corresponds to SIC codes 20 through 39;
- Manufactures, imports, or processes a toxic chemical (i.e., a Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) chemical), and
- Sells or otherwise distributes a mixture or trade name product containing the TRI chemical, to:
- A facility subject to TRI reporting under EPCRA 313, as described in 40 CFR 372.22; or
- A person who in turn may sell or otherwise distributes such mixture or trade name product to a facility described in 40 CFR 372.22(b).
The notification must be provided to each person to whom the mixture or trade name product is sold or otherwise distributed. The notification must be in writing and include the following information:
- A statement that the mixture or trade name product contains a toxic chemical or chemicals subject to TRI reporting under EPCRA 313 and 40 CFR 372;
- The name of each toxic chemical, and the associated Chemical Abstracts Service (CAS) registry number of each chemical, if applicable; and
- The percent by weight of each toxic chemical in the mixture or trade name product.
The notification must be made with the first shipment of each calendar year, at a minimum. It is common that this notification is incorporated into Section 15 of the Safety Data Sheet (SDS) for the chemical or mixture. However, the notification can be a letter. If you are required to prepare and submit an SDS, the letter must be attached to the SDS. In addition, you should make it clear to your customers that they must include the TRI supplier notification if they provide the SDS to any of their customers.