It was not until December 2024 (and thus before President Donald Trump took office) that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued a series of new regulations to restrict substances (GLOBALNORM reported on this in Newsletter 1/2025). Among them is a regulation to regulate perchloroethylene (PCE) - 40 CFR Part 751 Subpart G. The regulation bans certain uses of PCE, establishes workplace measures and requires controls for those uses that are not banned.
In July 2025, the EPA then opened a 30-day public comment period on the regulation of perchloroethylene (PCE) to reconsider and, if necessary, revise the final risk management regulation.
This review followed EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin's announcement "Powering the Great American Comeback" and is closely related to Trump's Executive Order 14219 "Unleashing Prosperity Through Deregulation" to promote prudent financial management and reduce unnecessary regulatory burdens. The Executive Order provides for a regulatory cap for fiscal year 2025. Accordingly, when proposing a new regulation for public notice and comment or otherwise promulgating a new regulation, each agency must identify at least 10 existing regulations to be repealed. The heads of all agencies are instructed to ensure that the total incremental cost of all new regulations, including repealed regulations that are finalized in 2025, is well below zero.
Another change concerns the substance regulation of trichloroethylene (TCE) - 40 CFR Part 751 Subpart D, which was published in December 2024. The rule was originally scheduled to go into effect on January 16, 2025, banning virtually all commercial and residential uses of TCE within one year. Several companies and trade associations subsequently petitioned the US Court of Appeals for a review and obtained a stay of enforcement. Trump's Executive Order "Regulatory Freeze Pending Review", which had issued a regulatory freeze for all executive departments and agencies to review pending and existing laws and regulations, also contributed to this. All regulations that have not yet been published in the Federal Register should be withdrawn for review, and all regulations that have been published but have not yet gone into effect should be delayed for 60 days for review. During this period, a comment period may be opened for interested parties. Most recently, the EPA has now postponed the effective date of the individual exemptions under TSCA Section 6(g), as described in the final TCE regulation, until November 17, 2025.
In the wake of these developments in the US, it seems unlikely that we will see new substance regulations under TSCA this year.
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Would you like to read more information on the topic of substance restrictions in the USA? You can find more articles here:
→ USA: EPA adopts new substance bans under TSCA section 6 (a) from January 10, 2025
Author's note
This article has been machine translated into English.
TERMS AND ABBREVIATIONS
The Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA ) of 1976 is a key law regulating chemicals in the USA. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the US environmental authority, is responsible for implementing this law. In 2016, the law was revised by the so-called Frank R. Lautenberg Chemical Safety for the 21st Century Act, which introduced the EPA's obligation to assess the risk of high-risk substances. Since then, a number of substance restrictions and bans have been added.
