"Trade Secret Protection Strategy for Chemicals to Get EPA Revamp"

"The EPA will soon propose a rule to clarify what chemical manufacturers must do when they seek to keep details such as the company’s name, location, or identity of a chemical confidential.

The rule wouldn’t be “a cure for cancer, but EPA is trying to make it a little better,” agency attorney Jessica Barkas said Tuesday during the American Chemistry Council’s Global Chemical Regulations workshop.

The Environmental Protection Agency is preparing to publish a proposed rule to ease difficulties it and companies have experienced since the 2016 Toxic Substances Control Act amendments substantially changed the law’s confidentiality provisions, Barkas said. The Office of Management and Budget cleared the proposal (RIN: 2070-AK68) Monday, the final step before the EPA can release it.

The proposal will discuss what companies must do to justify claims of “substantial” competitive harm that could be done to them if confidential business information, or CBI, become public, said Nick Lillo, an EPA environmental protection specialist."

Pat Rizzuto reports for Bloomberg Environment April 6, 2022.

Source: Bloomberg Environment, 04/07/2022