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TSCA Chemical Data Reporting in 2028: What 40 CFR Part 711 Requires and Why the Clock Started in January 2024
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TSCA Chemical Data Reporting in 2028: What 40 CFR Part 711 Requires and Why the Clock Started in January 2024

The 2028 CDR window opens June 1, 2028, but 40 CFR 711.8 tests every production year back to January 2024. What Part 711 requires and who has to file.

by iSi Environmental

The next Chemical Data Reporting window under the Toxic Substances Control Act opens June 1, 2028 and closes September 30, 2028. That reads like a problem for a future version of your compliance calendar. It is not. The volumes that go on the 2028 Form U cover calendar years 2024, 2025, 2026 and 2027, and 40 CFR 711.8(a) tests each of those years independently. Two of the four are already closed. A facility that has not tracked per-site, per-chemical volumes since January 1, 2024 is not preparing to collect data under Part 711. It is reconstructing history.

The threshold is triggered by production in “any calendar year since the last principal reporting year,” so a site that hit 25,000 lb of a substance in 2024 and then ran 5,000 lb through 2027 is still a reporter for that substance. Reading the rule as if only the principal year counts is the most expensive available misreading of it.

Before deciding this is somebody else’s rule: on November 4, 2026, EPA announced a $930,000 CDR settlement with Colgate-Palmolive. EPA states the company “imported 47 chemicals in quantities greater than the reporting threshold” between 2016 and 2019 and did not report them “by the January 2021 deadline,” and that “in March 2023, an EPA inspection of Colgate-Palmolive’s New Jersey facility revealed” the omission (EPA release 26-055). That is a household-brands importer, not a chemical plant, and the finding came out of an inspection that was not looking for CDR.

One window on this rule is open right now. EPA’s paperwork renewal for CDR sits at the Office of Management and Budget, and the 30-day notice at 91 FR 68131 (October 29, 2026, docket EPA-HQ-OPPT-2013-0721) puts comments due “on or before November 30, 2026.”

One clarification first: CDR is a TSCA section 8(a) filing made to EPA alone through its Central Data Exchange every four years, while Tier II chemical inventory reporting and the Toxics Release Inventory are annual EPCRA obligations with different thresholds, March 1 and July 1 deadlines, and state and local destinations.

What is the TSCA Chemical Data Reporting rule?

Chemical Data Reporting, codified at 40 CFR Part 711, requires manufacturers and importers of chemical substances to report manufacturing, processing and use data to EPA once every four years. The authority is TSCA section 8(a), 15 U.S.C. 2607(a), and that single line is the entire authority citation for the Part.

EPA promulgated Part 711 at 76 FR 54933 (September 6, 2011), replacing the Inventory Update Rule. The last substantial rewrite was the 2020 CDR Revisions rule at 85 FR 20122 (April 9, 2020), with the small-manufacturer definition update at 85 FR 31986 (May 28, 2020). EPA’s information collection abstract states that “All changes were fully implemented with the 2024 CDR,” so the rule a facility files under in 2028 is the rule as it stood for 2024.

What is the reporting threshold for Chemical Data Reporting?

25,000 lb (11,340 kg) of a single chemical substance at one site in any calendar year since the last principal reporting year, under 40 CFR 711.8(a). The threshold drops to 2,500 lb (1,134 kg) under 711.8(b) for substances that are the subject of certain TSCA actions.

That short list is specific: substances subject to a rule proposed or promulgated under TSCA section 5(a)(2), 5(b)(4) or 6; an order in effect under section 4, 5(e) or 5(f); or relief granted in a civil action under section 5 or 7, with status judged “as of the beginning of the submission period,” which here means June 1, 2028. EPA publishes it as the CDR Chemical Status Spreadsheet, updated by June 1 of each submission year, so the 2028 list does not exist yet and the 2024 version is the current reference. A significant new use rule adopted since the last cycle is how a 25,000 lb substance becomes a 2,500 lb substance. Volume is counted per substance, per site, per calendar year.

When is the next Chemical Data Reporting deadline?

June 1 through September 30, 2028, under 40 CFR 711.20, which sets “recurring submission periods … from June 1 to September 30 at 4-year intervals, beginning in 2028.”

The principal reporting year is 2027, defined at 40 CFR 711.3 as “the latest complete calendar year preceding the submission period,” and reportable volumes cover 2024 through 2027. EPA’s CDR page, last updated October 8, 2026, directs manufacturers to “collect data on chemicals that you are manufacturing (including importing) during the years 2024 through 2027” (EPA, Chemical Data Reporting). Two earlier dates matter more than the window itself: December 31, 2026 closes the third reportable year, and December 31, 2027 closes the principal year, which carries the full data set at 711.15(b)(3) and (b)(4) rather than volume alone.

Do importers have to file a CDR report?

Yes. “Manufacture” includes import under 40 CFR 711.3 and TSCA section 3, and EPA’s 2024 CDR Questions and Answers, Q7.2, states flatly: “Importers are responsible for reporting under CDR” (EPA 740-B-24-005, January 2024).

Three features of 40 CFR 711.8 matter to anyone self-qualifying. The test is activity, not industry: persons “must determine whether they must report under this section for each chemical substance that they manufacture (including import) at an individual site.” The unit of analysis is the site: “the production volume is specific to each site, not each company,” and a separate Form U is filed for each site under 711.15(a). And an importer who never physically holds the substance still reports, using “the site information for the site controlling the import” (Q7.6).

Imported mixtures have to be broken down. Q9.2: “for imported mixtures, you need to identify each component chemical substance to determine if the amount of any individual chemical substance in the mixture … is sufficient to meet or exceed a CDR reporting threshold.”

Are chemicals imported as part of an article exempt from CDR?

Yes. 40 CFR 711.10(b) excuses reporting where “the person imported the chemical substance as part of an article.” The exemption is narrower than it reads.

EPA’s Q10.18 holds that metal chips generated from imported castings “are not considered to be part of the article and therefore are reportable at the time of import if they are used for a separate commercial purpose.” Chemicals imported in a mixture or formulated product are reportable and count toward the threshold.

Does the small manufacturer exemption apply to Chemical Data Reporting?

Yes, through 40 CFR 711.9, using the definition at 40 CFR 704.3: combined annual sales under $120 million, unless production or import of that substance at the site exceeds 100,000 lb (45,400 kg), or combined annual sales under $12 million regardless of volume.

Read the carve-out carefully, because it is not the one that governs the 2,500 lb threshold. 711.9 removes the exemption for substances subject to a rule under TSCA section 4, 5(b)(4) or 6; an order under section 4 or 5(e); or relief under section 5 or 7. Against the 711.8(b) list that adds section 4 test rules and drops 5(a)(2) and 5(f), so the two lists do not flatten into one. 711.9 also covers small governments.

What is the penalty for failing to file a CDR report?

TSCA section 16 authorizes up to $49,772 per violation under 40 CFR 19.4 for penalties assessed on or after January 8, 2025, and 15 U.S.C. 2615(a)(1) provides that “Each day such a violation continues shall … constitute a separate violation.” That is the ceiling. The published settlements are a different number: EPA’s largest announced CDR penalty is the $930,000 Colgate-Palmolive settlement of November 4, 2026.

Keep both figures side by side, because the gap is the practitioner’s point. A per-substance, per-day computation at the statutory maximum against Colgate’s 47 substances would produce a number orders of magnitude above what was paid. No published EPA penalty policy specific to TSCA or CDR explains how the agency gets from the ceiling to the invoice. For anyone working from an older reference, $49,772 is current: Part 19 shows its most recent amendment as January 8, 2025 (90 FR 1377), and there is no 2026 inflation adjustment.

The second published matter, Wilbur-Ellis Company, $630,737 (EPA Region 9, June 4, 2026), is not a CDR penalty. One figure covered three distinct TSCA claims: manufacturing a new chemical without premanufacture notice “on at least 29 different occasions,” processing a chemical after EPA designated it inactive without notice, and “failing to submit required quadrennial chemical production data” for three substances produced above 25,000 pounds (EPA, June 4, 2026). Only the third claim is CDR, and EPA does not apportion the total.

Which industries have to report under CDR?

EPA’s 60-day information collection notice names two NAICS families, “325 - Chemical Manufacturing and 324 - Petroleum and Coal Products Manufacturing,” covering an estimated 5,238 respondents (91 FR 8872). Treat that as a description of who mostly files, not as the legal test.

The 30-day notice drops the NAICS list and says only that affected entities are “companies manufacturing (including importing) certain chemical substances listed on the TSCA Inventory” (91 FR 68131). Applicability under 40 CFR 711.8 turns on what a site makes or imports, which is why importers well outside 324 and 325 end up as reporters. EPA publishes site counts only: 5,238 sites filed in the 2020 cycle at an average of 8.3 chemicals per report, against 5,460 sites in 2016. There is no company-level count.

What information does a CDR Form U require?

40 CFR 711.15(b) requires a signed certification, parent-company and site identifiers including D-U-N-S numbers and six-digit NAICS codes, and two tiers of chemical-specific data.

At 711.15(b)(3): chemical identity (CA Index Name plus CASRN or TSCA Accession Number), annual volume for each year since the last principal reporting year, volume used on site and exported, recycling information, worker-exposure counts (codes W1 through W8), maximum concentration (M1 through M5), physical form and the percentage in each form.

At 711.15(b)(4): industrial processing and use data (designation codes PC, PF, PA, PK and U; industrial sectors IS1 through IS48; function categories) plus consumer and commercial use data (product categories, the consumer versus commercial split, a question on products intended for children 14 and younger, concentrations and worker counts). Most of (b)(4) is principal-reporting-year only, which is the practical reason to instrument 2027 in advance: the volume history is four years wide, the use and exposure detail one year deep.

How do you submit a CDR report?

Electronically only. 40 CFR 711.35 requires Form U (EPA Form 7740-8) to be completed in e-CDRweb, and “Submissions must be sent electronically to EPA via CDX.” There is no paper option.

CDX registration and authorized-official electronic signature setup are prerequisites that EPA costs separately in its own burden estimate, so they belong before the window opens. So does confidentiality work: 40 CFR 711.30(a)(3) requires that “All confidentiality claims must be substantiated at time of submission … and must be signed and dated by an authorized official,” handled under 40 CFR part 2 and TSCA section 14. Some elements cannot be claimed at all, including chemical identities already public on the TSCA Inventory.

How long do you have to keep CDR records?

Five years, under 40 CFR 711.25: records “must be retained for a period of 5 years beginning on the last day of the submission period,” and EPA encourages longer retention.

The clock starts at the close of the window, not the date you file, so for the 2028 cycle it runs to September 30, 2033. The records that matter are the ones substantiating the volume calculation: production and inventory records, import documentation, mixture composition data, and the aggregation worksheets.

Can a state impose its own chemical data reporting requirement?

Nothing in TSCA stops a state from adopting its own chemical data reporting requirement, and TSCA section 18 expressly contemplates identical state requirements with capped penalties. 15 U.S.C. 2617(a)(1)(A) preempts a state action “to require the development of information about a chemical substance” only where it is “reasonably likely to produce the same information required under section 2603, 2604, or 2605,” which are TSCA sections 4, 5 and 6. Section 8, at 15 U.S.C. 2607, is not in that list.

Section 2617(d)(1)(A)(iv) preserves a state requirement “identical to a requirement prescribed by the Administrator,” with penalties “no more stringent than the penalties and other sanctions available to the Administrator” under section 2615. That is a reading of the statutory text, not legal advice. As a practical matter, no state in iSi’s service region (Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, Missouri, Nebraska, Colorado) has adopted a CDR analog, and section 8(a) is not a delegable program: Part 711 has no state-authorization mechanism and no state agency administers CDR.

Who is responsible for CDR when a chemical is toll or co-manufactured?

Both parties. 40 CFR 711.22(c) permits a single report per site with contracting-company and producing-company options, but EPA’s guidance is blunt. Q6.3: “Both the contracting company and producing company are responsible for meeting the CDR requirements.” Q6.4: the contracting company “is not able to be the sole reporter.” Q6.5: “If Company A agrees to report the manufacturing, but fails to do so, Company X is still responsible for reporting.” Q7.5 adds that where no report is filed, “the EPA will hold each such person liable for failure to report.”

A toll agreement that assigns CDR to the contract manufacturer has allocated the work and kept the liability. Settle the assignment in writing, then verify by submission confirmation that the filing happened.

Are byproducts reportable under CDR?

Generally yes. 40 CFR 711.10(d) exempts only specified byproducts: flue dust from Portland cement manufacturing (CASRN 68475-76-3) and three Kraft pulping substances (CASRNs 66071-92-9, 68514-09-0 and 471-34-1) recycled within a site-limited enclosed system, plus byproducts produced solely in pollution control equipment or in site boilers generating heat or electricity, and then only where that equipment “is not integral to the chemical manufacturing processes of the site.”

40 CFR 711.6 excludes substances: polymers (by CA Index Name fragments such as “*polym” and “*alkyd,” plus named classes including proteins, rubber and silicones), microorganisms, naturally occurring substances per 40 CFR 710.4(b), and water plus seven named natural-gas CASRNs. The polymer exclusion “does not apply to a polymeric substance that has been depolymerized, hydrolyzed, or otherwise chemically modified.” 711.6(b) is partial only: petroleum process streams in Table 1 and chemicals in Table 2 are excused from the 711.15(b)(4) processing-and-use data and “are not excluded from the other reporting requirements under this part.” Keep the three straight: 711.9 excludes persons, and 711.10 excludes activities, including manufacture or import “solely in small quantities for research and development.”

What EPA says this rule costs, and why the November 30 comment deadline matters

EPA’s 30-day notice puts the collection at 5,238 estimated respondents and 891,053 burden hours per year, an increase of 161,568 hours over the currently approved collection (91 FR 68131). The reason is arithmetic, not a rule change: the increase “reflects the use of 2020 CDR data (rather than 2016 CDR used for the previous ICR update),” and EPA states plainly “There were no program changes” (91 FR 8872).

EPA’s per-respondent figure, from the OMB abstract for ICR 2070-0162, is 170 hours and $17,588 per year (ICR Ref. 202610-2070-003). Read it as EPA’s own estimate rather than a benchmark: EPA’s filings disagree on the total, with the 60-day notice at $88,954,949, the 30-day notice at $92,127,597 on the same 891,053 hours, and the reginfo summary showing $0 against an abstract carrying the $17,588 figure. Those figures are not reconcilable from the public record.

What they are good for is the comment. The renewal sits at OMB with the status “Received in OIRA,” and comments are due on or before November 30, 2026 to docket EPA-HQ-OPPT-2013-0721 and to OMB through reginfo.gov. If your last cycle took materially more than 170 hours a year, that docket is the only open channel on this rule, and the only CDR deadline inside the next fourteen months.

What EPA is not doing, and why that matters more than an enforcement sweep

Chemical Data Reporting does not appear in EPA’s current National Enforcement and Compliance Initiatives. The six published FY2024-2027 NECIs cover border security, drinking water compliance, chemical accident risk reduction, air quality in overburdened communities, PFAS exposure and coal ash (EPA, NECIs, page last updated March 9, 2026). None names TSCA chemical data reporting, and the border initiative covers imports of HFCs, toxic chemicals and pesticides, which is import enforcement rather than CDR.

The accurate statement is therefore not that EPA is targeting CDR. It is that CDR findings surface during routine inspections conducted for other reasons, which is exactly what the Colgate record shows: a March 2023 facility inspection that “revealed” an unreported 2016-2019 import history. That is the more useful warning, because the trigger is not an initiative you could watch for. It is the next inspection you were already going to have.

The rule is stable in both directions. EPA’s active Unified Agenda entries on reginfo.gov carry no entry for Chemical Data Reporting, 40 CFR Part 711, TSCA section 8(a) or RIN 2070-AK33, with the caveat that every RIN in that list resolved to the Fall 2025 edition. EPA’s ICR abstract says the same: “The next CDR collection will occur in 2028; there are no changes to the reporting requirements.” Adjacent TSCA reporting is a different story, which is why the TSCA section 8(d) health and safety data reporting deadline belongs on its own calendar line.

The September 30 close moved in both of the last two cycles, and both times it was the CBI step

The 2020 period was extended twice, from September 30 to November 30, 2020 (85 FR 19890) and then to January 29, 2021 (85 FR 75235), with EPA citing CDX outages, CBI substantiation problems and six industry extension letters. The 2024 period was extended from September 30 to November 22, 2024 by final rule at 89 FR 79150, and EPA’s stated reason was its own software: the extension came “in response to concerns related to the 2024 CDR data submission tool,” specifically its “ability … to correctly capture substantiations for chemical identity CBI claims.”

Read that pattern two ways at once. The caution: 40 CFR 711.20 as codified says September 30, 2028, and EPA stated when it extended the 2024 period that the extension “only applies to the 2024 submission period.” No facility should plan on a 2028 extension. The planning insight: the close has slipped in two consecutive cycles, both times late in the window and both times over CBI substantiation, which tells you which part of the filing to finish first.

The January 2021 deadline in the Colgate matter is itself the twice-extended close of the 2020 cycle. That is a fact about one matter, not a rule about how far back EPA reaches, and there is no published lookback period to plan against.

What to do before the 2027 principal year closes

The work is sequencing, not filing. Four items, in order.

Build the per-site, per-chemical, per-year volume table now, for 2024 forward. One row per substance per site per calendar year, domestic and imported volumes aggregated, with the source record identified. 2024 and 2025 are reconstruction work: purchase records, import entry documentation, production logs, inventory movements. 2026 closes December 31.

Run the threshold test against each of the four years separately, not against 2027 and not against an average. A single year above 25,000 lb at a single site creates the obligation under 711.8(a), and the 2,500 lb list has to be re-checked when EPA’s 2028 spreadsheet publishes by June 1, 2028.

Decompose imported mixtures and products to components. This is where most unrecognized reporters are hiding, and it is the specific failure in the only large published CDR settlement.

Finish CDX registration, the authorized official e-signature and the CBI substantiation package ahead of the window. Those three steps are not about data, and the CBI step is the one that has twice broken the submission period.

Reconstructing 2024 through 2026 volumes before the principal year closes is records archaeology across purchasing, production and import files, usually without a system built to produce a per-site chemical volume by calendar year. That is the work iSi’s compliance program management handles: building the volume table, running the threshold test per substance per site per year, and getting the CDX and confidentiality mechanics in place before June 2028 rather than during it. To see where CDR sits against everything else your sites file, start with our EHS compliance calendar, and we respond to inquiries the same day.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the Chemical Data Reporting threshold for the 2028 cycle?

25,000 lb of a single chemical substance at one site in any calendar year since the last principal reporting year, under 40 CFR 711.8(a). The threshold drops to 2,500 lb under 711.8(b) for substances subject to certain TSCA actions, judged as of June 1, 2028.

When is the next CDR report due?

The submission window runs June 1 through September 30, 2028 under 40 CFR 711.20, covering calendar years 2024 through 2027. The principal reporting year is 2027, and the retention clock under 711.25 runs five years from the close of the window, to September 30, 2033.

Do importers have to file a CDR report?

Yes. Manufacture includes import under 40 CFR 711.3 and TSCA section 3, the threshold test runs per substance per site per year, and imported mixtures must be decomposed to component substances. An importer who never physically holds the substance still reports.

What is the penalty for failing to file CDR?

The statutory ceiling is $49,772 per violation under 40 CFR 19.4, with each day a separate violation under 15 U.S.C. 2615(a)(1). The largest announced CDR settlement is $930,000, paid by Colgate-Palmolive in a settlement EPA announced November 4, 2026.

Sources

All URLs verified 2026-11-05.

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