US EPA Moves to Scale Back PFAS Reporting Rule for Products
Washington D.C., 10 November 2025 — The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has proposed to narrow the scope of reporting obligations for perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA), introducing several long-anticipated exemptions for industry.
PFAS are a class of synthetic chemicals valued for their resistance to water, heat, and oil and are widely used in products such as apparel, carpets, construction materials, cookware, furniture, food packaging, and ski wax. They are also used in firefighting foams and various industrial applications.
The PFAS reporting requirement stems from the Fiscal Year 2020 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) and was first proposed in June 2021, with the final rule issued in September 2023. The rule mandates that all manufacturers — including importers — of PFAS and PFAS-containing products report key information to EPA for activities dating back to 1 January 2011.
The 2023 final rule did not exempt article importers nor establish a de minimis threshold, creating significant reporting burdens across a wide range of industries.
New Proposed Exemptions Proposed
Under the newly proposed amendments, EPA seeks to exclude many companies from the PFAS reporting obligation. The exemptions would apply to PFAS that are:
Manufactured or imported in mixtures or products at concentrations ≤ 0.1%
Contained in imported articles
Present as byproducts or impurities
Used solely for research and development purposes
Non-isolated intermediates
EPA is also soliciting comments on whether to increase the de minimis threshold to 1.0% or another “appropriate” level. Additionally, the Agency is seeking feedback on introducing an exemption for companies with total PFAS production volumes below 2,500 pounds per year.
Potentially Narrowed Reportable Substances
While the proposal does not yet alter the scope of reportable substances, EPA has signaled that it may consider moving from a structural definition of PFAS to a discrete list of named chemicals.
Currently, PFAS are defined under the rule as any substance containing at least one of the following substructures:
R-(CF₂)-CF(R′)R″, where both the CF₂ and CF moieties are saturated carbons.
R-CF₂OCF₂-R′, where R and R′ can be F, O, or saturated carbons.
CF₃C(CF₃)R′R″, where R′ and R″ can be F or saturated carbons.
A shift to a list-based approach could significantly reduce the number of reportable substances; however, such a shift may reveal the identities of some chemicals known to the agency but currently protected by Confidential Business Information (CBI). The change would undermine the original intent of identifying all PFAS being manufactured.
Revisions to Reporting Format and Content
For those still subject to reporting, EPA proposes several procedural changes to streamline data submission.
Under the 2023 final rule, companies must report “any information of any effect of a chemical substance or mixture on human health or the environment” using an OECD Harmonized Template (OHT). The new proposal would:
Maintain the OHT format only for unpublished studies,
Allow study summaries instead of full reports (the full study would be submitted only upon EPA request), and
Harmonize product category codes with those under the TSCA Chemical Data Reporting (CDR) regulation.
Manufacturers subject to reporting must still submit:
Information on each site where PFAS are manufactured;
Chemical-specific information for each PFAS substance manufactured or processed since 1 January 2011;
Quantities produced and processed per use category;
All available environmental and health effects data; and
Worker exposure information, including the number of employees exposed and duration of exposure.
Potential Delay in Reporting Deadlines
EPA previously extended the reporting start date from 11 July 2025 to 13 April 2026, with final submissions due 13 October 2026 (or 13 April 2027 for small manufacturers importing articles only).
The new proposal eliminates deadlines for importing articles as this category of submitter has been eliminated. For others, the reporting start date will commence 60 days after publication of the final rule. However, the reporting period could be contracted to just three months instead of the six months under the existing rule.
Submission on the proposed rule will commence once the proposal is published on the U.S. Federal Register, which is expected to occur on 13 November 2025. The comment period is expected to end around 28 December 2025, or 45 days after the Federal Register publication date.
To maintain the current April 2026 reporting start, EPA would be required to issue the final rule by 12 February 2026. Any delay in finalization of the proposed rule could trigger additional postponements.
Implications for industry
If adopted, the proposal would substantially reduce the number of entities subject to PFAS reporting, alleviating compliance burdens across multiple sectors. The proposed change meets the demands of at least several companies who formally petitioned EPA (and voluntarily withdrew) for some of these changes. Manufacturers, importers and brand owners of articles would welcome this news. However, some of these companies are still subjected to state reporting rules (e.g. California, Minnesota, etc.).
