On behalf of Charles Auer, Director, Office of Pollution Prevention and Toxics, U.S. EPA:

As you may be aware, EPA is seeking broad stakeholder input into the Chemical Assessment and Management Program, or ChAMP, and on April 17 issued an FR Notice (73 FR 20921) (http://www.chemalliance.org/news/news_detail.asp?StoryID=2246) announcing a public meeting in Washington, D.C., on May 2. One component of ChAMP is the concept of developing and implementing a High Production Volume (HPV) Challenge-type program for inorganic HPV chemicals. While this is one of the issues that will be discussed on May 2, EPA is interested in having a more detailed discussion with you and other companies that manufacture and/or use these chemicals. We would like to invite you to participate in a Webinar Meeting on this issue on Tuesday, May 13, 2008, from 1:30 to 3:30 p.m. To minimize the need for travel and to make this discussion as widely available as possible, we will also do a webinar presentation and conference call.

For those of you who may not yet be aware of this effort, following is a brief background and a link to the ChAMP website where additional information and a copy of the April 17th FR Meeting Notice can be found. EPA has established the new Chemical Assessment and Management Program (ChAMP) to address three objectives. The first is to address U.S. commitments under the Security and Prosperity Partnership, or SPP. At the SPP Leaders' Summit in Quebec in August 2007, President Bush, Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Mexican President Felipe Calderon committed the three countries to work together to accelerate and strengthen the management of chemicals in North America. As part of this strategic approach, the United States made a commitment to complete initial assessments and take needed actions on 6,750 chemicals produced above 25,000 pounds-per-year in the U.S. by 2012. This commitment includes both high production and moderate production volume chemicals. In addition, under ChAMP, EPA is considering an HPV-type Challenge program for inorganic HPV chemicals. EPA also plans to seek input on options to reset the TSCA Inventory to better reflect the chemicals actually made and imported by businesses in the U.S., and how to make the Inventory a more meaningful resource. Additional information on the ChAMP efforts can be found on the ChAMP web site: http://www.epa.gov/champ/.

We will be providing specific details on the webinar and call in number at a later date. For those of you in D.C. who would like to attend in person, the meeting will be in Room 4225, EPA East Building, 1201 Constitution Avenue, N.W. Please note that this meeting is not intended to obtain a consensus, group advice, nor collective views; the Agency is seeking your individual input on these developments. We hope that you can join us for this important discussion and we look forward to your input.

Please RSVP to Pam Buster by phone at (202)564-8817, or by Email at buster.pamela@epa.gov; or to Nancy Wilson by phone at (202)564-8824, or by Email at wilson.nancyh@epa.gov.

The EPA, in consultation with the U.S. Bureau of Customs and Border Protection (CBP), has developed a new April 2008 TSCA Section 13 Import Compliance Checklist. This new guidance document provides a roadmap to help chemical importers determine how to certify their chemical imports for compliance with the import requirements under section 13 of the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) and 19 CFR §§ 12.118-12.127.

Please note that this Checklist is not the TSCA import certification statement itself and there is no requirement that importers use this Checklist or submit it to the government. If you have questions about complying with the TSCA section 13 import requirements, please review the Checklist, including the section entitled "For Further Information."