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The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced on November 10, 2025, that it will publish a final rule extending the compliance date for laboratories using methylene chloride to ensure long-term compliance with the requirements of the May 2024 final risk management rule. According to EPA, the final rule will extend the Workplace Chemical Protection Program (WCPP) compliance dates for non-federal laboratories by an additional 18 months, aligning them with the dates required for federal laboratories and their contractors in the May 2024 final rule. EPA states that it received comments on the May 2025 proposed rule from various laboratories that use methylene chloride. Most commenters supported extending the WCPP compliance timeframes for non-federal laboratories. EPA notes that many of these laboratories, "which use methylene chloride in small quantities and somewhat infrequently, expressed challenges in completing the May 2024 methylene chloride rule's requirements across potentially hundreds of laboratories within the short timelines prescribed in the 2024 rule." The final rule will extend the following compliance dates for non-federal laboratories:
- For initial monitoring: from May 5, 2025, to November 9, 2026.
- For establishing regulated areas and ensuring compliance with the Existing Chemical Exposure Limit (ECEL): from August 1, 2025, to February 8, 2027.
- For ensuring the methods of compliance as well as developing and implementing an exposure control plan: from October 30, 2025, to May 10, 2027.
More information on EPA's 2024 final risk management rule is available in our May 17, 2024, memorandum.
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