The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced a settlement requiring Haifa North America, Inc. in Altamonte Springs, Florida, to pay a civil $664,267 penalty for violations of chemical data reporting regulations under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA).
The EPA alleged that Haifa failed to submit a data report required under TSCA for 32 chemical substances Haifa imported between 2016 and 2019. The company imports various chemicals for businesses that formulate specialty fertilizers and plant nutrition solutions for agricultural applications.
Companies must give the EPA information on the chemicals they manufacture or import into the United States for commercial purposes. The EPA uses the data to help assess these chemicals' potential human health and environmental effects and makes any non-confidential business information available to the public. Haifa’s failure to submit the required reports could harm the EPA’s ability to maintain accurate and updated information regarding commercially produced chemicals. The settlement agreement resolves the alleged violations and requires the payment of a $664,267 civil penalty within 30 days.
For information about chemical data reporting, visit www.epa.gov/chemical-data-reporting. The chemical data reports for 2016 – 2019 were due from industry manufacturers by January 29, 2021.
To find out if a specific chemical is on the TSCA chemical substance inventory, visit https://sor.epa.gov/sor_internet/registry/substreg/LandingPage.do.
For more information on TSCA regulations, check out Lynn Bergerson’s Compliance Advisor column.