EPA Extends Compliance Deadlines for Methylene Chloride Rule, Easing Challenges for Non-Federal Laboratories
Released Nov. 10, 2025
Today, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) finalized a compliance date extension for laboratories using methylene chloride to ensure long-term compliance with the requirements of the May 2024 final rule on methylene chloride issued under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA). This final rule extends the Workplace Chemical Protection Program (WCPP) compliance dates for non-federal laboratories by an additional 18 months, aligning them with the dates required for federal laboratories and their contractors in the May 2024 final rule. This decision, in support of the Trump Administration’s focus on reducing regulatory burdens, provides relief to non-federal laboratories facing near-term challenges in implementing the May 2024 final rule and prevents disruptions to environmental monitoring activities.
EPA received comments on the May 2025 proposed rule from various laboratories that use methylene chloride. Most commenters supported the proposed rule to extend WCPP compliance timeframes for non-federal laboratories. Many of these laboratories, which use methylene chloride in small quantities and somewhat infrequently, expressed challenges in completing the May 2024 methylene chloride rule’s requirements across potentially hundreds of laboratories within the short timelines prescribed in the 2024 rule.
Today’s action extends the following compliance dates for non-federal laboratories:
- For initial monitoring: from May 5, 2025, to November 9, 2026.
- For establishing regulated areas and ensuring compliance with the Existing Chemical Exposure Limit: from August 1, 2025, to February 8, 2027.
- For ensuring the methods of compliance as well as developing and implementing an exposure control plan: from October 30, 2025, to May 10, 2027.