2023 Maine Revised Statutes › TITLE 38: WATERS AND NAVIGATION › Chapter 16-D: TOXIC CHEMICALS IN CHILDREN'S PRODUCTS › 38 §1695. Disclosure of information on priority chemicals

§1695. Disclosure of information on priority chemicals
1.  Reporting of chemical use.
A person who is a manufacturer or distributor of a children's product for sale in the State that contains a priority chemical, as identified pursuant to section 1694, in an amount greater than a de minimis level shall notify the department in writing unless waived by the commissioner pursuant to this section or exempt from this chapter pursuant to section 1697. This written notice must be made within 180 days after a priority chemical is identified. If the sale of the children's product does not commence until after the 180-day reporting period ends, this written notice must be made within 30 days of sale of the children's product in the State. This written notice must identify the children's product, the number of units sold or distributed for sale in the State or nationally, the priority chemical or chemicals contained in the children's product, the amount of such chemicals in each unit of children's product and the intended purpose of the chemicals in the children's product.
[PL 2013, c. 232, §1 (AMD).]
2.  Supplemental information.
The manufacturer or distributor of a children's product that contains a priority chemical shall provide the following additional information if requested by the department:
A. Information on the likelihood that the chemical will be released from the children's product to the environment during the children's product's life cycle and the extent to which users of the children's product are likely to be exposed to the chemical;   [PL 2007, c. 643, §2 (NEW).]
B. Information on the extent to which the chemical is present in the environment or human body; and   [PL 2007, c. 643, §2 (NEW).]
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 children's product in lieu of identified alternatives. If an assessment acceptable to the department is not timely submitted, the department may assess a fee on the manufacturer or distributor to cover the costs to prepare an independent report on the availability of safer alternatives by a contractor of the department's choice.   [PL 2007, c. 643, §2 (NEW).]
The manufacturer or distributor of a children's product that contains a priority chemical may provide additional information to the department regarding the potential for harm to human health and the environment from specific uses of the priority chemical.
[PL 2007, c. 643, §2 (NEW).]
3.  Waiver of reporting; fee; extension of deadline.
The commissioner may waive all or part of the notification requirement under subsection 1 for one or more specified uses of a priority chemical if the commissioner determines that substantially equivalent information is already publicly available, that the information is not needed for the purposes of this chapter or that the specified use or uses are minor in volume. The department may assess a fee payable by the manufacturer or distributor upon submission of the notification to cover the department's reasonable costs in managing the information collected. The department may extend the deadline for submission of the information required under subsection 1 for one or more specified uses of a priority chemical in a children's product if it determines that more time is needed by the manufacturer or distributor to comply with the submission requirement or if the information is not needed at that time.
[PL 2007, c. 643, §2 (NEW).]
4.  Rulemaking to determine fees.
If the department assesses a fee pursuant to subsection 2, paragraph C or subsection 3, the department shall determine the appropriate fee through major substantive rulemaking, as defined in Title 5, chapter 375, subchapter 2‑A.
[PL 2007, c. 643, §2 (NEW).]
SECTION HISTORY
PL 2007, c. 643, §2 (NEW). PL 2011, c. 319, §6 (AMD). PL 2013, c. 232, §1 (AMD).