Developments in State Chemicals Policy:

Identifying and Regulating Priority Chemicals

Washington

Washington law requires the state to identify chemicals of high concern for children and requires manufacturers of certain children's products to report annually on those chemicals. Revised Code of Wash. §§70A.430.010--040. The state has promulgated rules implementing the law. Wash. Admin. Code (WAC) §§173-334-010--130.

Designation of priority chemicals. The law requires the Department of Ecology, every five years and in consultation with the Department of Health, to designate at least five “priority chemicals” that meet the criteria outlined in the law. Rev. Code Wash. chap. 70A.350.020. The Department's rules establish a list of Chemicals of High Concern to Children (CHCC). The rules also include a provision for individuals to petition to add or removal a chemical from the list. WAC §§173-334-010--130.

The law also requires the Department to identify every five years “priority consumer products that are a significant source or use of priority chemicals.” When identifying such products, the Department must consider, among other factors, the “potential for exposure to priority chemicals by sensitive populations or sensitive species when the consumer product is used, disposed of, or has decomposed.” Certain categories of consumer products, including food and beverages (but not their packaging), are exempt from identification. Rev. Code Wash. 70A.350.030. In 2021, the legislature enacted a law providing that any product identified as a source of PFAS chemicals in the Department of Ecology's final PFAS chemical action plan (finalized in November 2021) may be considered a priority consumer product without any additional action by the agency. The law directs the department to determine an initial set of regulatory actions for these products. Rev. Code Wash. §70A.350.090

Regulation of priority chemicals. Manufacturers must file annual notices with the Department of Ecology if their children's products contain a high priority chemical. The Department's rules provide that this notice is required for each chemical on the CHCC list that is either: an intentionally added chemical at concentrations above the Practical Quantification Limit; or a contaminant present at concentrations above 100 ppm (unless the manufacturer meets certain stated conditions). The regulations establish the content of the annual notice, which includes information about the function and the total amount of the chemical in the product. Information in notices that is not deemed confidential business information is publicly available. WAC chap. 173-334.

The Department of Ecology is required to “determine regulatory actions to increase transparency and to reduce the use of priority chemicals in priority consumer products” every five years. The Department may: determine that no action is currently required; require a manufacturer to provide notice of the use of a priority chemical or class of priority chemicals; or “restrict or prohibit the manufacture, wholesale, distribution, sale, retail sale, or use, or any combination thereof, of a priority chemical or class of priority chemicals in a consumer product.” The Department must adopt rules to implement such actions according to a schedule established in the rules. Rev. Code. Wash §§ 70.365.040, .050. A manufacturer violating a requirement of the law, or a rule or order adopted under the law, is subject to a civil penalty.  Rev. Code. Wash §§ 70.365.070.

The 2016 amendment to the law prohibits five flame retardants (which the state had previously listed) from being used in children’s products or residential upholstered furniture.

See the Department of Ecology’s Children’s Safe Product Act page for additional information.

Back to Indoor Chemical Exposures: State Policies for Identifying and Regulating Priority Chemicals