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On Nov. 10, 2025, the US Environmental Protection Agency ("EPA") announced its proposal to change reporting regulations for per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances ("PFAS") under the Toxic Substances Control Act ("TSCA"). In its release, the EPA stated that these changes are intended to "make them more practical and implementable and reduce unnecessary, or potentially duplicative, reporting requirements for businesses" while ensuring access to PFAS safety and use information. The EPA identified the reporting regulations for reconsideration consistent with Executive Order 14219.
The proposed rule would modify TSCA's 8(a)(7) PFAS reporting regulations. The current reporting regulations were finalized in October 2023 and required manufacturers and importers of PFAS that participated in such activity in any year between 2011 and 2022 to report data to the EPA. The reporting period for this information was scheduled to begin on Nov. 12, 2024, but in Sept. 2024, the EPA announced a delay in the reporting period to July 2025. In May 2025, the EPA announced that the reporting deadline would be extended to Oct. 13, 2026, with small businesses solely reporting on importing PFAS contained in articles allowed to extend their reporting deadline to April 13, 2027.
In its Nov. 2025 proposal, the EPA proposes to incorporate exemptions on reporting related to activities where the EPA has identified "that manufacturers are least likely to know or reasonably determine" including:
- PFAS manufactured/imported in mixtures or products at concentrations at or below 0.1%;
- Imported articles;
- Certain byproducts;
- Impurities;
- Research and development chemicals; and
- Non-isolated intermediates.
The EPA is also proposing to update names used for consumer and commercial product categories by adding clarifying terms and also revise category code names associated with CC217 through CC221 and CC305. The EPA has stated that the revisions are intended to eliminate overlap between categories and increase reporter certainty in the identification of categories.
Within the proposal, the EPA identifies the industries that may be affected by the proposed changes by North American Industry Classification System code, clarifying that the list provided is not intended to be exhaustive. In addition to incorporating the de minimis exemptions, the EPA proposes technical corrections to clarify what must be reported in certain data fields and to adjust the data submission period. The EPA estimates that the proposed rule would reduce the total industry burden by 10-11 million fewer hours (at a cost savings of $786-$843 million) when compared to the Oct. 11, 2023 final rule. The EPA estimates a reduction of 9.3-9.9 million hours ($703-$761 million in costs).
While the rule has not yet been published in the Federal Register, the EPA did make a pre-publication version of the proposal available on its website. Once the Federal Register notice is published, EPA will accept comments on the proposed changes for 45 days in docket #EPA-HQ-OPPT-2020-0549.
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