USEPA announced postponement of submission period for the Reporting Rule for PFAS under TSCA

On May 13, 2025, the USEPA published an interim final rule and request for comments in the Federal Register to postpone the start date of the submission period for the Reporting Rule for Perfluoroalkyl and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances (PFAS) from July 11, 2025 to April 13, 2026, with a corresponding postponement of the end date from January 11, 2026, to October 13, 2026¹. Originally promulgated under Section 8(a)(7) of Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) in October 2023^2,3, the rule requires manufacturers (including importers) of PFAS in any year between 2011–2022 to report certain data to USEPA related to exposure and environmental and health effects.

USEPA explained that the postponement is necessary because the agency requires more time to prepare the reporting application in USEPA’s Central Data Exchange (CDX) to collect the data. More importantly, USEPA announced it is separately considering reopening certain aspects of the rule to public comment, and the delayed reporting date will ensure the agency has adequate time to solicit and consider public comments and propose and finalize any modifications to the rule before the submission period begins. This interim final rule went into effect on May 13, 2025, and comments from stakeholders were to be received by USEPA on or before June 12, 2025⁴.

USEPA’s announcement that it is considering reopening certain aspects of the rule to public comment is highly significant. On April 28, 2025, USEPA Administrator Lee Zeldin outlined a suite of upcoming USEPA actions to address PFAS contamination issues, which includes “implement section 8(a)(7) to smartly collect necessary information, as Congress envisioned and consistent with TSCA, without overburdening small businesses and article importers”⁵.

On May 2, 2025, a coalition of chemical companies submitted a petition under Section 21 of TSCA and requested USEPA to reduce the regulatory burden of the PFAS reporting rule by explicitly exempting from reporting those listed activities described in 40 CFR 711.10 (a)-(c), which include imported articles, research and development (R&D) substances, impurities, byproducts, and non-isolated intermediates. In addition, the coalition requested that USEPA exempt the reporting of PFAS manufactured in quantities less than 2,500 pounds, consistent with the quadrennial Chemical Data Reporting (CDR) rule under TSCA Section 8(a).⁶ On May 16, 2025, three days after the publication of the interim final rule, the coalition withdrew its petition via email to USEPA Administrator Lee Zeldin, and the agency considered this petition closed.⁷

Ramboll recommends companies who may be affected by the PFAS reporting rule closely monitor USEPA’s responses to the comments received and the issuance of the proposed and final rules by the agency. In the meantime, companies can focus their efforts on retrieving and reviewing records of PFAS chemical substances manufactured and/or imported during the 2011–2022 period that will unlikely be exempt from reporting, while awaiting USEPA’s decision on possible exemptions on those activities listed in 40 CFR 711.10(a)-(c), reporting threshold, and other criteria.