The US state of Oregon has published a Temporary Administrative Order to revise its Toxic-Free Kids Act. This temporary rule is effective between August 26, 2021 and February 21, 2022.
In 2015, the US state of Oregon signed into law the ‘Toxic-Free Kids Act’ (the Act). The Act authorizes the Oregon Health Authority (OHA) to establish and maintain a list of High Priority Chemicals of Concern for Children’s Health (HPCCCH) that are used in the manufacture of products for children under the age of 12, and to establish rules governing what manufacturers must do to comply with the Act. These rules and implementation processes were established over Phases 1 to 3.
According to the Act, reporting is required if an HPCCCH meets the following:
- Intentionally added and is equal to or greater than the practical quantification limit (PQL), or
- A contaminant that is equal to or greater than 100 ppm
An HPCCCH, however, will be required to be removed, substituted with a less hazardous alternative or have a waiver approved by the OHA by January 1, 2022 (or when a manufacturer has made three biennial notifications to the OHA of children’s products containing HPCCCHs at or above the de minimis level) if the children’s product fall within any of the following three categories:
- Cosmetics
- Intended for children under the age of three, or
- ‘Mouthable’ as defined under ORS 431A.253(8) (SafeGuardS 40/21)
In August 2021, the OHA announced a Notice of Temporary Rulemaking (NTR) by approving Temporary Administrative Order (TAO) PH 40-2021 ‘Clarification related to the reporting of children’s products under the Toxic Free Kids Act’. This TAO makes two important amendments to OAR 333-016-2060. It:
- Clarifies that the term ‘unit’ has the same meaning as ‘component part’ under OAR 333-016-2010 – this clarifies that reporting of an HPCCCH is for each component part/unit of a children’s product rather than the whole/entire product, the latter method of which under-calculates the concentration of an HPCCCH in a product component
- Requires manufacturers to use the highest concentration for reporting if there are multiple concentrations for a given unit in a particular product category
The TAO is effective from August 26, 2021 to February 21, 2022 – OHA will make these changes permanent by rulemaking in the fall of 2021.
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