November 17, 2025
On November 13, 2025, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) published a rule proposing to amend existing regulations requiring reporting and recordkeeping for per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA). The amendment would modify an October 2023 rule to ease requirements for manufacturers and importers for certain quantities and types of PFAS.
The October 2023 rule (40 C.F.R. Part 705), promulgated pursuant to TSCA section 8(a)(7), requires those who manufactured (including imported) for commercial purposes PFAS or any article containing PFAS, in any quantity, in any year between January 1, 2011 and December 31, 2022 to report certain information to EPA. The information required for reporting includes company and plant size, chemical information, categories of use, quantity, description of byproducts, environmental and health effects, worker exposure data, and method of disposal. The requirements, as they currently stand, apply even to small entities and require that regulated parties make a “reasonable effort” to obtain and report known or “reasonably ascertainable” information.
In May, EPA extended the reporting deadlines in the rule and announced that the agency was considering additional modifications that would be released for public comment. This month’s proposed rule confirms that the modifications align with the Administration’s overall deregulatory agenda by relieving regulated parties from previously established requirements.
Specifically, the proposed rule seeks to create exemptions for the following:
- A de minimis exemption for PFAS manufactured (or imported) in mixtures or products at concentrations of 0.1% or lower
- Imported articles
- Byproducts
- Impurities
- Research and development; and
- Non-isolated intermediates
The rule also contains technical corrections to clarify what data must be reported regarding environmental and health effects and names used for specific consumer and commercial product categories. Given the proposed changes to the existing rule, EPA also proposes to modify the submission period for required reporting to begin 60 days after the effective date of the final rule and last for three months. With the proposed exemption for article importers, the agency proposes to remove the deadline specific to small manufacturers who would have reported exclusively as article importers.
Finally, EPA invites public comments on aspects of the TSCA section 8(a)(7) rule, such as the scope of reportable chemicals, that imply the agency’s willingness to further relax requirements for manufacturers and importers.
Congress amended TSCA to add section 8(a)(7) through the Fiscal Year 2020 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA—annual military appropriations bill). In the newly added provision, Congress required EPA to promulgate regulations requiring any person who manufactured PFAS since January 1, 2011 to report certain information to EPA. EPA promulgated the October 2023 rule to meet this requirement, and is now proposing to amend that rule in light of “Executive Order 14219 and the Administration’s priorities” along with other reasons the agency lists, citing to various TSCA provisions and case law.
The term “PFAS” as it applies to the rule is any chemical substance that meets the structural definition codified in the TSCA regulations at 40 CFR 705.3, which is a chemical that has at least one of the following:
- R-(CF2)-CF(R′ )R″, where both the CF2 and CF moieties are saturated carbons
- R-CF2 OCF2 -R′, where R and R′ can either be F, O, or saturated carbons
- CF3 C(CF3)R′-R″, where R′ and R″ can either be F or saturated carbons
Substances excluded from the definition of “chemical substance” in TSCA section 3(2)(B) (e.g., pesticides defined under the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act, special nuclear material as defined by the Atomic Energy Act) are not subject to the rule’s reporting requirements.
The deadline for public comments on the proposed rule is December 29, 2025. The information collection provisions of the rule are also open for public comment under the Paperwork Reduction Act. Those comments must be sent to the Office of Management and Budget’s Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs by December 15, 2025.