Written on: May 1, 2023 by Doug Raymond
California
Industry is preparing to provide the California Air Resources Board (CARB) with some training. The National Aerosol Association (NAA), Western Aerosol Information Bureau (WAIB), Household & Commercial Products Association (HCPA) and Personal Care Product Council (PCPC) will be in Sacramento on May 16–17 to present information to CARB staff on our products.
On May 16, CARB will be given an Aerosol 101. The last time we presented an Aerosol 101 to CARB was in 2018, before its rulemaking.
NAA & WAIB will lead the effort on the Aerosol 101, which will focus on all the components used in an aerosol. Featured will be valves, cans, propellant, solvents, caps, cartons, and other components necessary to develop an aerosol. In addition, Industry will focus on mandatory testing and regulatory requirements necessary to develop a safe and compliant aerosol product. CARB staff may ask for certain aerosol products to be highlighted as they have done in the past. Lastly, a summary of how an aerosol is manufactured will be reviewed.
On May 17, HCPA and PCPC will lead the industry effort to train the staff on non-aerosol products. Like the aerosol program, the non-aerosol products presentation will discuss components and focus on testing. Additionally, the training will cover the different non-aerosol forms and packaging that can be used, such as pumps, squeeze bottles, tubes, and tubs. CARB will likely request certain product categories be highlighted.
Participating from CARB will be the Planning, Enforcement and Laboratory divisions. Most likely, a representative from Legal and Management will also be present. It is beneficial for Industry to perform this type of training, as it is an excellent time to network and progress toward relationship-building, especially since we are currently not in a rulemaking situation (rulemaking always makes interaction more difficult).
Industry looks forward to the opportunity to interact with CARB staff on this issue.
Canada
On April 4, the Canadian Consumer Specialty Products Association (CCSPA), HCPA and NAA presented a 90-minute webinar to Industry. The webinar covered the Environment & Climate Change Canada (ECCC) regulation on volatile organic compound (VOC) concentration limits for certain products, commonly known as the Canadian Consumer Product VOC Regulation. Canada has been working on regulating VOCs in consumer products for more than 25 years and finally has a VOC regulation.
The regulation will become effective Jan. 1, 2024, for most products and effective Jan. 1, 2025, for disinfectant products. Remember, there is an unlimited sell-through for products produced before the effective date. This means that all product produced before Jan. 1, 2024, can be sold forever, given the product is properly date coded. The regulation is based on the 2010 Consumer Product VOC limits from the CARB regulation. The webinar covered the regulation, describing what is similar and what is not.
Even though ECCC tried to copy the CARB regulation, numerous differences remain. The biggest difference is in definitions. With CARB, we spent painstaking hours to get the definitions to be very specific, whereas with ECCC, some categories have little to no definition. This will make complying with the regulation more difficult. However, it will make enforcing the regulation even more difficult.
The webinar had close to 200 attendees. Numerous questions were asked and a great deal of valuable information was presented. The webinar was recorded and, if interested in reviewing it, please email—Simon Kinsman, Director of Regulatory Affairs, CCSPA: kinsmans@ccspa.org; Nicholas Georges, Senior VP, Scientific & International Affairs, HCPA: ngeorges@thehcpa.org; Doug Raymond, Industry Consultant, Raymond Regulatory Resources (3R), LLC: djraymond@me.com. SPRAY
