An Act To Promote the Use of Safer Chemicals in Consumer Products
Maine Legislature, Session 123, LD 2210
Committee: Natural Resources
Sponsors: KOFFMAN, DOW, BARSTOW, CAMPBELL, CONNOR, HINCK, PINGREE, SIMPSON, BENOIT, MARRACHE

Legislative Document 
No. 2210 
H.P. 1577 
House of Representatives, February 12,2008 
An Act To Promote the Use of Safer Chemicals in Consumer 
Products 
Reference to the Committee on Natural Resources suggested and ordered printed. 
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MILLICENT M. MacFARLAND 
Clerk 
Presented by Representative KOFFMAN of Bar Harbor. (GOVERNOR'S BILL) 
Cosponsored by Senator DOW of Lincoln and 
Representatives: BARSTOW of Gorham, CAMPBELL of Newfield, CONNOR of Kennebunk, 
HINCK of Portland, PINGREE of North Haven, SIMPSON of Aubum, Senators: BENOIT of 
Sagadahoc, MARRACHE of Kennebec. 
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Maine as follows: 
Sec. 1. 38 MRSA c. 16-D is enacted to read: 
CHAPTER 16-D 
CHEMICAL SAFETY IN CONSUMER PRODUCTS 
§1691. Definitions 
As used in this chapter, unless the context otherwise indicates, the following tenns 
have the following meanings. 
1. Alternative. "Alternative" means a chemical, material, technology or method of 
equivalent function that can be substituted for the use of a priority chemical. 
2. Chemical of high concern. "Chemical of high concern" means a substance 
included on published government lists of chemicals that are recognized as: 
A. Carcinogens, reproductive or developmental toxicants or endocrine disruptors; 
B. Persistent, bioaccumulative and toxic; or 
C. Very persistent and very bioaccumulative. 
3. 
Distributor. 
"Distributor" means a person who sells products to retail 
establishments on a wholesale basis. 
4. Manufacturer. "Manufacturer" means a person who manufactures a product or 
whose brand or label appears on the product or product packaging; if that person does not 
have a presence in the United States, the importer of the product also is a "manufacturer. " 
5. Novelty. "Novelty" means a product intended mainly for personal or household 
enjoyment or adornment. "Novelty" includes, but is not limited to, items intended for use 
in practical jokes, figurines, toys, games, cards, ornaments, candles, jewelry and 
decorations. 
6. Priority chemical. "Priority chemical" means a substance designated as a priority 
chemical by the board under section 1693. 
7. Safer alternative. "Safer alternative" means an alternative that, if adopted to 
substitute for the use of a priority chemical, would reduce the potential for hann to human 
health or the environment. 
§1692. Declaration of policy 
It is the policy of the State, consistent with its duty to protect the health, safety and 
welfare of its citizens, to reduce exposure of children and other vulnerable popUlations to 
chemicals of high concern by substituting safer alternatives when feasible. By enactment 
of this chapter, the Legislature confers upon the department the regulatory power to 
collect infonnation on chemical use and prohibit the sale of products contammg 
chemicals of high concern when safer alternatives are available. The policy represented 
in this chapter is in furtherance of the toxies use reduction policies under chapter 26. 
Nothing in chapter 26 may be interpreted to contravene action taken by the department 
under this chapter. 
§1693. Identification of priority chemicals 
The board may adopt rules designating a chemical of high concern as a priority 
chemical if the board has reason to suspect, based on infonnation in the public domain, 
that the chemical is being used in the manufacture of toys, clothing, child care products, 
cosmetics, furniture, electronic devices or any other consumer product intended for use in 
the home and the board determines, based on monitoring data, that significant amounts of 
the chemical are present in humans or the environment. 
Prior to initiating rulemaking under this section, the board shall conduct a search of 
public sources of infonnation on the chemical it proposes to designate as a priority 
chemical. 
Public sources include public and electronically searchable databases 
maintained by the Federal Government, state governments and intergovernmental 
organizations. 
If rulemaking to designate a priority chemical under this section is initiated by 
petition under Title 5, section 8055, the commissioner shall consider the infonnation 
submitted in support of the petition but is not obligated to conduct a search of other 
sources of infonnation on the chemical. The petitioner bears the burden of demonstrating 
that the chemical meets the criteria for designation as a priority chemical. 
Rules adopted pursuant to this section are routine technical rules as defined in Title 5, 
chapter 375, subchapter 2-A. 
§1694. Collection of information on products containing priority chemicals 
1. Disclosure of chemical use required. No later than 120 days after the effective 
date of a rule adopted pursuant to section 1693, and every 3 years thereafter, a 
manufacturer or distributor of a product in the State that contains the priority chemical 
identified in that rule shall file a notice with the department unless this requirement is 
waived by the board or the commissioner as provided under subsection 4. The notice 
must identify the product, the approximate number of units distributed in the State, the 
estimated amount of the priority chemical in each unit and the purpose for including the 
chemical in the product. The department shall provide a fonn for filing the notice and a 
means of filing the notice electronically. 
3S 
2. Supplemental information. The manufacturer or distributor of a product that 
contains a priority chemical shall provide the following infonnation to the department if 
requested by the commissioner: 
A. 
Information on the likelihood that the priority chemical will be released from the 
product to the environment during the product's life cycle and the extent to which 
users of the product are likely to be exposed to the chemical; 
B. 
Information on the extent to which the priority chemical IS present III the 
environment or human body; and 
C. 
An assessment of the availability, cost, feasibility and performance, including 
potential for harm to human health and the environment, of alternatives to the priority 
chemical and the reason the priority chemical is used in the manufacture of the 
product in lieu of identified alternatives. 
3. Failure to provide notice. A product containing a priority chemical may not be 
sold, offered for sale or distributed for sale in this State if the information required under 
subsection 1 has not been submitted to the department within 120 days after the effective 
date of the rule designating the chemical as a priority chemical or has not been obtained 
from other sources. The commissioner shall exempt a product from this prohibition if, in 
the commissioner's judgment, the lack of availability of the product could pose an 
unreasonable risk to public health, safety or welfare. 
If there are grounds to suspect that a product is being sold, offered for sale or distributed 
in violation of this subsection, the commissioner may request the manufacturer or 
distributor to provide a certificate of compliance. 
Within 10 days of receiving the 
request, the manufacturer or distributor shall: 
A. 
Provide the department with a certificate attesting that the product does not 
contain the priority chemical; 
B. File the notice required under subsection 1; or 
C. Stop the sale of the product in the State by: 
(1) Notifying retailers and wholesalers in the State to whom the product has been 
distributed that the sale of the product is prohibited by law; 
(2) Repossessing unsold units of the product; 
(3) Compensating retailers and wholesalers for the full price paid for repossessed 
units; and 
(4) Providing the department with a list of the names and addresses of the 
retailers and wholesalers that were contacted. 
4. Waiver of distributor or manufacturer disclosure. The board may waive the 
notice requirement of subsection 1 in whole or part by including a statement to that effect 
in the rule designating the chemical as a priority chemical. The commissioner also may 
waive the notice requirement of subsection 1 in whole or part upon determining that the 
information is already available or otherwise not needed for the purposes of this chapter. 
5. 
Trade secrets. 
If a manufacturer believes that information required to be 
submitted to the department under this section involves the release of a trade secret, the 
manufacturer shall provide the information to the commissioner and may designate the 
portion of the information that it believes is a trade secret. The designation must be 
clearly indicated on each page or other portion of information. The commissioner shall 
segregate the designated information from public records of the department in the same 
manner as required under section 131O-B and may release the information to the public 
only as provided under that section. 
§1695. Authority to restrict the sale of products containing a priority chemical 
1. 
Authority. The board may adopt rules prohibiting the manufacture, sale or 
distribution in the State of a product containing a priority chemical if the board finds, 
after consideration of infonnation filed under section 1694 and other relevant infonnation 
submitted to or obtained by the board, that: 
A. Distribution of the product directly or indirectly exposes humans to the priority 
chemical; and 
B. One or more safer alternatives to the priority chemical are available. 
The rule must specify the effective date of the prohibition, which may not be sooner than 
months after notice of the proposed rule is published as required under Title 5, section 
8053, subsection 5. Rules adopted pursuant to this subsection are major substantive rules 
as defined in Title 5, chapter 375, subchapter 2-A. 
2. 
Alternatives assessment; presumptions. 
For the purpose of detennining 
whether a safer alternative is available under subsection 1, paragraph B, the board may, in 
the absence of persuasive evidence to the contrary: 
A. Presume that an alternative is a safer alternative if the alternative is not a chemical 
of high concern; 
B. Presume that a safer alternative is available if the product containing the priority 
chemical is an item of apparel or a novelty; and 
C. Presume that an alternative is available if the alternative is sold in the United 
States. 
3. 
Implementation. 
No later than 180 days prior to the effective date of a 
prohibition adopted under subsection 1, the manufacturer or distributor of a product that 
contains the priority chemical at the time of adoption shall file a compliance plan with the 
commissioner or seek an exemption under subsection 4. A compliance plan must: 
A. Identify the product that contains the priority chemical; 
B. Specify whether compliance will be achieved by removing the product from the 
state market or by substituting a safer alternative; and 
C. If compliance is achieved by substitution of a safer alternative, identify the safer 
alternative and the timetable for substitution. 
4. Exemption. The manufacturer or distributor of a priority chemical subject to a 
prohibition adopted under subsection 1 may apply to the commissioner for an exemption 
for one or more particular uses of the priority chemical. The exemption application must, 
at a minimum: 
A. Identify the particular product uses for which the exemption is sought; 
B. Identify the alternatives considered; 
C. 
Explain the basis for concluding that substitution of the alternatives IS not 
technically or economically feasible; and 
D. Set forth the steps that have and will be taken to minimize the use of the priority 
chemical. 
The commissioner may grant an exemption with or without conditions upon finding that 
there is a need for the product in which the priority chemical is used and there is no 
technically or economically feasible alternative to the use of the priority chemical in the 
product. An exemption may be granted for a term not to exceed 5 years and may be 
renewed for one or more additional 5-year terms upon written application demonstrating 
that a technically or economically feasible alternative remains unavailable. 
The 
commissioner shall deny or grant an exemption request within 60 days after receipt of a 
complete application. 
§1696. Applicability 
This chapter does not apply to a pesticide as defined in Title 7, section 604, 
subsection 25 or to a drug as defined in the federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act, 20 
United States Code, Section 321. 
SUMMARY 
This bill requires a manufacturer or a distributor of a product that contains a toxic, 
carcinogenic or very bioaccumulative chemical to disclose information on its chemical 
use if the Board of Environmental Protection designates the chemical as a priority 
chemical. Upon review of the information, the board then may adopt rules banning the 
sale of a product that contains the chemical.