Vermont Amends Reporting Requirements for High-Concern Chemicals

The Vermont Department of Health recently amended its reporting requirements for chemicals of high concern in children’s products. This programme requires manufacturers who use chemicals designated by the state of Vermont as chemicals of high concern to children to disclose information about these chemicals to the Department of Health beginning on 31 August 2020 and annually thereafter if the chemicals (1) have been intentionally added to a children’s product at a level above the practical quantification limit (i.e., the lowest concentration that can be reliably measured within specified limits of precision, accuracy, representativeness, completeness and comparability during routine laboratory operating conditions) produced by the manufacturer, or (2) are present in a children’s product produced by the manufacturer as a contaminant at a concentration of 100 parts per million or greater.

Children’s products subject to these reporting requirements include (1) toys; (2) children’s cosmetics; (3) children’s jewellery; (4) products designed or intended by the manufacturer to help a child with sucking or teething, to facilitate sleep, relaxation or the feeding of a child, or to be worn as clothing by children; and (5) child car seats.

Key changes to the regulations include the following:

• 20 chemicals have been added to the list of chemicals of high concern, bringing the total to 86 chemicals;

• the new reporting deadline is 31 August 2020, covering products offered for sale between 1 September 2018 and 31 August 2020, and submissions will continue annually thereafter; and

• the required disclosure notices must also include the Global Product Classification product brick description as well as the Universal Product Code if the product has such a code.

The new chemicals added to the list are triphenyl phosphate; di(methoxyethyl) phthalate; ethylhexyl diphenyl phosphate; tris (2,3-dibromopropyl) phosphate; tri-n-butyl phosphate; dipentyl phthalate; tricresyl phosphate; tris(1-chloro-2-propyl) phosphate; 2-ethylhexyl-2,3,4,5-tetrabromobenzoate; bis(2-ethylhexyl) tetrabromopthalate; perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA); bis(chloromethyl)propane-1,3-diyl tetrakis-(2-chloroethyl) bis(phosphate); bisphenol F; isopropylated triphenyl phosphate; lead; bisphenol S; dicyclohexyl phthalate; diisobutyl phthalate (DIBP); decabromodiphenyl ethane; and short-chain chlorinated paraffins.