Update on the Status of TSCA Risk Management Rule for TCE
Released August 18, 2025
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is providing an update on the effective date of the Toxic Substances Control Act final risk management rule for trichloroethylene (TCE). The agency is further postponing until November 2025 the effective date for each of the TSCA 6(g) exemption requirements. This will ensure that the timing of EPA's administrative stay aligns with the court's timeframe for this action.
On December 17, 2024, EPA issued the final rule prohibiting all uses of TCE, most of which will be prohibited within one year, including TCE manufacturing and processing for most commercial uses and all consumer products. The rule was originally intended to take effect on January 16, 2025.
EPA has received multiple petitions for review of the final rule. On January 13, 2025, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals granted a motion to temporarily stay the rule's effective date. The petitions were then consolidated by the Judicial Panel for Multidistrict Litigation and transferred to the Third Circuit Court of Appeals. By an order dated January 16, 2025, the Third Circuit left the temporary administrative stay of the effective date in place, pending further order of the court. On March 28, 2025, the court lifted that administrative stay for all portions of the rule except for the provisions for the TSCA section 6(g) exemptions.
In accordance with the memorandum of January 20, 2025, from President Trump, entitled “Regulatory Freeze Pending Review,” EPA temporarily delayed the effective date of the rule until March 21, 2025, via Federal Register notice published on January 28, 2025. On March 21, 2025, EPA signed a notice postponing the effective date of the requirements imposed on each of the TSCA section 6(g) exemptions in the final TCE rule for 90 days until June 20, 2025. In June 2025, EPA issued an additional postponement to August 19, 2025. The agency is now further postponing until November 17, 2025, the effective date for each of the TSCA section 6(g) exemption requirements, as described in the final TCE rule.