ELR Citation: 55 ELR 20002
No(s). 23-1166 (D.C. Cir. Dec 20, 2024)

The D.C. Circuit vacated certain requirements under an EPA rule concerning the assertion and treatment of confidential business information (CBI) claims for information reported to or otherwise obtained by the Agency under TSCA. Trade groups challenged the rule, arguing it allowed for unlawful disclosure of information protected by TSCA §2613(a). The court held that EPA's regulatory definition of health and safety study properly excluded matters that do not bear on the effects of a chemical substance on health or the environment, that EPA was correct that TSCA did not require a reporting entity to reassert and substantiate a CBI claim for information statutorily exempted from substantiation and agency review at the time of submission, and that EPA's use of permissive language in select provisions of the rule was consistent with TSCA and reasonably explained; but it held that the rule's assertion and substantiation requirements were unlawful as applied to entities reporting by accession numbers and without knowledge of underlying chemical identity. It vacated the rule to the extent it allows for the unlawful disclosure of confidential information.