Regulatory Review: April 2025
Trudy Watson-Leung, Bugsrock Environmental Consulting
This digest provides an overview of some of the latest regulatory news announcements of interest to the SETAC community. Please send your suggestions to [email protected].
Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC) and Health Canada (HC)
HC held consultation on draft drinking water guidelines for trihalomethanes (closed 4 April) and arsenic(closes 6 May).
European Chemicals Agency (ECHA)
ECHA launched a public comment period on the draft risk profile for Polybrominated dibenzo-p-dioxins and dibenzofurans and mixed polybrominated /chlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins and dibenzofurans (PBDDFs). The deadline for comments is 20 May.
ECHA released the Community Rolling Action Plan (CoRAP) update for the years 2025–2027. Under the substance evaluation process of the REACH Regulation (EC) No 1907/2006, 28 substances will be evaluated, 8 of which will be evaluated in 2025.
European Union (EU) and European Commission (EC)
The EC presented the Clean Industrial Deal to support competitiveness and decarbonisation in the EU.
Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)
The OECD released a report titled “The Ocean Economy to 2050,” which provides groundbreaking data, analysis and insights to support policy makers working towards a sustainable and resilient ocean economy. Exploring potential development pathways through 2050, the report highlights the need for science-based decision-making, harnessing of digital technologies, and improved ocean governance.
United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP)
The Stockholm Convention Best Available Techniques Best Environmental Practices Expert Group finalized Guidance on Best Available Techniques and Best Environmental Practices for Managing Sites Contaminated with Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs). This guidance has been developed to guide Parties in the identification, assessment, management and remediation of POPs contaminated sites, and in their actions to minimize and prevent releases of POPs from contaminated sites.
United States Interstate Technology and Regulatory Council (ITRC)
The ITRC is holding webinar at 5:00 p.m. on 1 May to give an overview of the science and policy measures around the tire anti-degradants 6PPD and 6PPD-q and provide an introduction to the ITRC 6PPD & 6PPD-quinone Guidance Document. A recording of the webinar will be available in the archive.
United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA)
The USEPA released additional details on the path forward for the 31 planned deregulatory actions: Reconsiderations of regulations on power plants; throttling the oil and gas industry; mercury and air toxics standards; mandatory greenhouse gas reporting program; water pollution limits for coal plants; wastewater regulations for oil and gas development; risk management program rule; light-, medium- and heavy-duty vehicles; 2009 Endangerment Finding; grocery store refrigerant technology transition rule, national air quality standards for particulate matter; national emission standards for hazardous air pollutants for energy and manufacturing sectors; social cost of carbon measurement; redirection of enforcement resources; the “Good Neighbour Plan”; clear backlog in State Implementation Plans and Tribal Implementation Plans; exceptional events rulemaking; coal ash permit reviews and regulations; and the termination of the Environmental Justice and DEI arms of the agency.
The USEPA published a user guide for the Final Ecosystem Goods and Services (FEGS) document reader. The FEGS document reader is a deep learning technology designed to accelerate the process of identifying and prioritizing ecosystem services available in written documents and provide a preliminary assessment of priority ecosystem services, which can serve as a starting point for efficient or targeted stakeholder engagement to refine that prioritization.
World Health Organization (WHO)
The WHO released an air pollution and health training toolkit for health workers. The toolkit provides the knowledge and tools necessary to understand and address the health effects of air pollution and to engage with individuals and communities to mitigate risks while advocating for clean air interventions.
Author’s contact: [email protected]