EPA Assistant Administrator Steve Owens Resigns
EPA Administration/Chemical Regulation: On Tuesday, October 25, 2011, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced the resignation of Assistant Administrator Steve Owens. Readers will recall that President Obama appointed Mr. Owens the Assistant Administrator for the Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention (OCSPP), which is the office implementing the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA), the Federal […]
Japan Revises Its Annual Notification Requirements to Provide Greater Protection for Foreign Suppliers’ Confidential Business Information
Japan/Chemical Notification and Reporting: Early in June 2011, Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade, and Industry (METI) announced a revision to the process Japanese companies use to annually notify the agency about the chemical substances that they import. Under the new process, a foreign supplier can provide certain confidential business information (CBI) directly to METI rather […]
EPA Requests Comments on Its Role in Advancing Sustainable Products
Pollution Prevention Act/Sustainable Products: In today’s Federal Register, EPA solicited comments from stakeholders on potential roles for the Agency in advancing sustainable products. According to the notice, EPA will consider the comments it receives and as well as information it gathers from other sources to help define its role and develop a strategy that identifies how the Agency can make […]