The Vermont Department of Health won approval for its new, burdensome children’s product green chemistry reporting program from the state’s Legislative Committee on Administrative Rules on November 19, 2015. The final version of the Toxic Substances in Children’s Products Rule took effect on December 10, 2015, and follows from the state’s 2014 green chemistry bill, VT S. 239. Under the rule, companies selling children’s products in Vermont must disclose the presence of any of 66 chemicals:
- as a contaminant, at 100 ppm or more; or
- as an intentionally added chemical, over the chemical’s practical quantification limit (PQL).
Unlike the requirements in Washington State, reporting obligations affect all regulated companies and are not phased in. Moreover, product-level reports are required. See more on the rule here and here.
Although the first reports were slated to be due July 1, 2016 (for the reporting period January 1 through July 1, 2016), and then every second July 1 thereafter, there is some good news: the Department has announced that it will not be able to accept reports until spring 2016, following beta testing of the reporting system. The online reporting system will be announced via this email list, and “[a]ll manufacturers will have six months to report to the Department from the date of the system’s availability. This will be true even if that six[-]month period extends past July 1st, 2016.”
While this short reprieve is good news, companies should begin to think about compliance now.