Q.01

Who needs to report chemicals under EPA CDR?

Under TSCA section 8(a), CDR reporting falls on anyone who manufactures or imports a chemical on the TSCA Inventory for commercial purposes at 25,000 lb (11,340 kg) or more at any single site they own or control, in any calendar year since the last principal reporting year. The threshold drops to 2,500 lb (1,134 kg) for chemicals under certain TSCA actions. Small manufacturers and some activities are carved out (40 CFR 711.8, 711.9 and 711.10).

Approach: The datasets hold only EPA's CDR production-volume data, not the rule itself. So I read 40 CFR Part 711 in the official CFR (7-1-25 edition on govinfo) and EPA's CDR guidance page; I couldn't open the live eCFR version.

Who must report (§ 711.8)

  • Main rule, § 711.8(a): "Any person who manufactured (including imported) for commercial purposes 25,000 lb (11,340 kg) or more of a chemical substance described in § 711.5 at any single site owned or controlled by that person during any calendar year since the last principal reporting year."
  • Each chemical at each site is assessed on its own. A separate report "must be submitted for each chemical substance at each site" (§ 711.15).
  • Which chemicals count (§ 711.5): any substance on the TSCA Inventory (Master Inventory File) at the start of the submission period, unless § 711.6 exempts it.
  • Lower threshold, § 711.8(b): 2,500 lb (1,134 kg) for a chemical that is:
    • the subject of a rule proposed or promulgated under TSCA section 5(a)(2), 5(b)(4) or 6;
    • the subject of an order in effect under section 4, 5(e) or 5(f); or
    • the subject of relief granted in a civil action under section 5 or 7.
  • Importers: the "site" is the U.S. site of the operating unit directly responsible for the import. If there is none, it is the U.S. address of an agent authorised to accept service of process for the importer. Imported substances are never "site-limited" (§ 711.3).
  • Toll manufacturing: the site is where the chemical is physically made (§ 711.3).

Persons not covered (§ 711.9)

  • Small manufacturers and small governments, as defined in 40 CFR 704.3, are not subject to Part 711.
  • This exemption has limits. They still must report any chemical that is the subject of a rule proposed or promulgated under TSCA section 4, 5(b)(4) or 6, an order in effect under section 4 or 5(e), or civil-action relief under section 5 or 7.
  • EPA's guidance page describes the small-manufacturer test as sales under $12 million (combined with the parent company), or parent sales under $120 million and production under 100,000 lb at the individual site. That page calls small manufacturers "fully exempt", but the rule text keeps them in for the chemicals listed above. I did not open § 704.3 itself.

Activities exempt from reporting (§ 711.10)

  • Manufacture or import solely in small quantities for research and development.
  • Import as part of an article.
  • Manufacture as described in 40 CFR 720.30(g) or (h).
  • Certain byproducts:
    • those listed for Portland cement and Kraft pulping, when recycled in a site-limited, enclosed system within the same process;
    • byproducts made solely in pollution control equipment or site boilers that are not integral to the chemical manufacturing process.

Exempt chemicals (§ 711.6)

  • Fully exempt: polymers, microorganisms, naturally occurring chemical substances, and water and certain natural gas forms.
  • Partly exempt: petroleum process streams (Table 1) and the substances in Table 2. Both only skip the processing and use information in § 711.15(b)(4).
  • Polymers, microorganisms, water/natural gas and the partly exempt substances lose their exemption if the chemical is under a TSCA section 4, 5(a)(2), 5(b)(4) or 6 rule, an enforceable consent agreement, a section 4, 5(e) or 5(f) order, or section 5 or 7 civil-action relief.

Next cycle: EPA's page says the 2028 submission period runs June 1 to September 30, 2028, covering calendar years 2024 to 2027.

Sources:

Q.02