EPA Postpones Effective Date for TCE Final Rule under TSCA

By Chelsea Anderson, senior regulatory specialist, Supply Chain Team, UL Solutions

On Dec. 17, 2024, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued a final rule to regulate trichloroethylene (TCE) under Section 6 of the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA). The rule, which is codified at 40 CFR Part 751, Subpart D, prohibits most uses of TCE including its manufacture and processing for most commercial and all consumer products, over a staggered time frame, with some exceptions. The final rule included extended phaseouts for TSCA section 6(g) exemptions to permit eight uses to continue under workplace restrictions for longer periods, including an interim existing chemical exposure limit (ECEL) of 0.2 ppm. The original effective date of this rule was Jan. 16, 2025, with most of the uses becoming phased out within a year of the effective date. Please see our previous news article for more information on this topic.

In the Jan. 28, 2025 edition of the Federal Register, EPA published a final rule which extended the effective date for the TCE regulation from Jan. 16, 2025 to March 21, 2025. Then, in the April 2, 2025 edition of the Federal Register, EPA issued a notice which reported that “as of March 21, 2025, the EPA further postpones the conditions imposed on each of the TSCA section 6(g) exemptions, as described in this document, in the final rule published on Dec. 17, 2024 at 89 FR 102568 until June 20, 2025.”

Most recently, on June 23, 2025, EPA issued a notification which further postpones the effective date imposed on each of the TSCA section 6(g) exemptions until Aug. 19, 2025.

Reference

EPA Notice: Extension of Postponement of Effectiveness for Certain Provisions of Trichloroethylene (TCE); Regulation Under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA); 90 Fed. Reg 26453, June 23, 2025