Monthly Archives: April 2014

On April 17, 2014, a coalition of 13 Attorneys General voiced their objections to the draft Chemicals in Commerce Act in a letter to United States House Representatives John Shimkus (R-IL) and Paul Tonko (D-NY).  The Attorneys General's primary objection was the perceived overly broad preemption provisions, which, according to the letter, would deprive states of their ability to protect their citizens and environment.  The following states were represented in the letter:  California, Connecticut, Hawaii, Iowa, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Vermont and Washington. Grimaldi Law Offices previously reported on the draft Chemicals in Commerce…

On March 27, 2014, the Vermont Senate approved S.239, a bill that would require manufacturers of consumer products to report the presence of "chemicals of high concern" in their products or product components and pay the Vermont Department of Health $2,000 per chemical.  Under the bill, the Department also would be authorized to ban the sale of consumer products containing chemicals of high concern.  The Vermont House is expected to approve the proposed legislation, and the bill could be enacted into law for an effective date of January 1, 2015. For the most part, S.239 appears to be narrower in…

The federal Freedom of Information Act requires federal agencies to provide public access to their records, subject to certain limitations.  FOIA's goal is to ensure an informed citizenry and agency accountability.  At the same time, FOIA and states' equivalent laws recognize the need to protect trade secrets and confidential business information (CBI), preventing such documents from being disclosed to the public if certain requirements are met.  Such protection is critical to the successful implementation of countless federal and state regulatory programs and leads to a circular conundrum:  Agencies need certain company sensitive information in order to fulfill their regulatory mandates,…

On April 4, 2014, EPA released Pesticide Registration Notice 2014-1 under the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA).  The Notice provides guidance to registrants on providing legally valid pesticide labeling over the internet.  As part of this guidance, EPA also provides examples of proper web-distributed labeling (WDL) and improper WDL.  EPA's vountary guidance, although not binding either on registrants or EPA, ought to assist pesticide registrants and users in benefiting from the advantages of the internet without straying outside of strict pesticide labeling requirements. The guidance is directed primarily at registrants of pesticide products marketed for agricultural and commercial (e.g., turf…