The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced on April 9, 2026, that it will publish a final rule postponing the start of the reporting period for the perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) reporting and recordkeeping rule issued under Section 8(a)(7) of the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA). The submission period will begin on January 31, 2027, or 60 days following the effective date of a forthcoming final rule on the substantive requirements of the PFAS reporting rule, whichever is earlier. As reported in our November 13, 2025, memorandum, EPA proposed in November 2025 to amend the TSCA Section 8(a)(7) regulation, which requires manufacturers (including importers) of PFAS and PFAS-containing articles in any year since 2011 through 2022 to report information related to chemical identity, uses, volumes made and processed, byproducts, environmental and health effects, worker exposure, and disposal to EPA. EPA proposed amending the regulation to incorporate exemptions to the scope of reportable manufacturing activities for a de minimis exemption of 0.1 percent; imported articles; byproducts; impurities; research and development (R&D); and non-isolated intermediates. EPA also proposed amending the data submission period to accommodate the changes to the reporting scope in the proposed rule, with the submission period beginning 60 days after the effective date of the final rule and lasting three months. In its April 9, 2026, announcement, EPA states that postponing the submission period allows it additional time to review the “thousands of public comments” on the proposed amendments so that the Agency can refine the rule to deliver better “timely, actionable reporting guidance without unnecessary loopholes that could delay health‑protective decisions.”
According to the prepublication version of the final rule, EPA intends to issue a final substantive rule “well before that fallback date [of January 31, 2027,] and expects to later remove this fallback date with the final revisions rule, regardless of whether EPA ultimately decides to finalize all, some, or none of the proposed substantive revisions” to the PFAS reporting rule. Because EPA is not addressing the currently codified duration of the submission period, it is retaining the current six-month submission period, with an additional six months for small manufacturers reporting only as article importers. EPA states that it will address any changes to the duration of the submission period, as well as other considerations regarding the reporting timeline, in the forthcoming final action. The final rule postponing the submission period will be effective when it is published in the Federal Register.
