G/TBT/N/USA/1276  
 
28 February 2017  
(17-1212) Page: 1/2 
Committee on Technical Barriers to Trade  Original: English  
 
  NOTIFICATION  
The following notification is being circulated in accordance with Article 10.6  
 
1. Notifying Member : UNITED STATES OF AMERICA   
If applicable, name of local government involved  (Article 3.2 and 7.2) :  
2. Agency responsible:  Environmental Prote ction Agency (EPA) [1297]  
Name and address (including telephone and fax numbers , email and website 
addresses, if available) of agency or authority designated to handle comments 
regarding the notification  shall be indicated if different from above :  
Please submit comments  to: USA WTO TBT Enquiry Point  
Email: usatbtep@nist.gov   
3. Notified under Article 2.9.2 [  ], 2.10.1 [  ], 5.6.2 [  ], 5.7.1 [  ], other: [X] 
4. Products covered (HS or CCCN where applicable, otherwise  national tariff heading. 
ICS numbers may be provided in addition, where applicable):  Chemical substances . 
Environmental protection (ICS: 13.020), Products of the chemical industry (ICS: 71.100)  
5. Title, number of pages  and language(s)  of the notified do cument:  Procedures for 
Chemical Risk Evaluation Under the Amended Toxic Substances Control Act  (19 pages, in 
English)   
6. Description of content:  As required under section 6(b)(4) of the Toxic Substances 
Control Act (TSCA), EPA is proposing to establish a  process for conducting risk evaluations 
to determine whether a chemical substance presents an unreasonable risk of injury to 
health or the environment, without consideration of costs or other non -risk factors, 
including an unreasonable risk to a potential ly exposed or susceptible subpopulation, under 
the conditions of use. Risk evaluation is the second step, after Prioritization, in a new 
process of existing chemical substance review and management established under recent 
amendments to TSCA. This proposed  rule identifies the steps of a risk evaluation process 
including scope, hazard assessment, exposure assessment, risk characterization, and 
finally a risk determination. EPA is proposing that this process be used for the first ten 
chemical substances to be  evaluated from the 2014 update of the TSCA Work Plan for 
Chemical Assessments, chemical substances designated as High - Priority Substances 
during the prioritization process, and those chemical substances for which EPA has initiated 
a risk evaluation in re sponse to manufacturer requests. The proposed rule also includes 
the required "form and criteria" applicable to such manufacturer requests.  
7. Objective and rationale , including the nature of ur gent problems where 
applicable:  Protection of the environment  
8. Relevant documents:  82 Federal Register (FR) 7562, 19 January 2017; Title 40 Code of 
Federal Regulations (CFR) Part 702.  Will appear in the Federal Register when adopted . 
9. Proposed date of adoption: To be determined  
Proposed date of entry into forc e: To be determined   G/TBT/N/USA/1276  
 
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  10. Final date for comments:  20 March 2017  
11. Texts available from : National enquiry point  [ ] or address, telephone and fax 
number s and e mail and website address es, if available , of other body:   
http://members.wto.org/crnattachments/2017/TBT/USA/17_1101_00_e.pdf