Ensuring Compliance
KMCL has deep experience advising clients on existing and emerging chemical laws and regulations.
Fast-paced changes to laws and regulations from the federal government, state governments, and litigation create a challenging gauntlet for companies manufacturing, processing, importing, selling, or distributing chemicals. KMCL has extensive knowledge of these areas. Clients turn to us for guidance to navigate individual regulatory programs and the areas where these programs intersect.
Please contact any KMCL attorney for more information on this area of practice.
Focus Areas
Pesticides
KMCL is adept at guiding clients through regulatory issues related to the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA).
Our attorneys are deeply practiced with defending enforcement actions related to importation, composition, pesticidal claims, and registration status.
We also support registration amendment processes. We provide advice about requirements on production, sales, and distribution applicable through FIFRA and FIFRA registration documents.
Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) & Green Chemistry
The “green chemistry” trend is pushing companies to use certain substances in their processes and products.
For example, in the wake of the Frank R. Lautenberg Chemical Safety for the 21st Century Act, EPA is actively evaluating the safety of chemical substances already in the marketplace, and may restrict their use.
Other examples include California’s Green Chemistry Initiative, Prop 65, various EPA programs supporting the development of such alternatives, and the European Union’s directives restricting certain substances.
KMCL regularly provides guidance for navigating these challenging regulations and laws.
Nanotechnology
Nanotechnology—technology that makes use of nano-scale materials—is used in countless applications, from pesticides to pharmaceutical products to paint coatings.
Because of its potential to create novel risks to human health and the environment, it continues to attract attention from regulators and is a point of emphasis for the EPA under TSCA.
Our attorneys regularly advise companies on the evolving landscape of nanotechnology regulation.
Representative Matters
- Advised fabric manufacturers on acceptable antimicrobial claims.
- Advised international mineral mining and processing company on FIFRA compliance, particularly the applicability of FIFRA’s treated articles exemption, for an antimicrobial filler product to be sold into the decorative coatings market.
- Assessed whether certain imported clays are subject to TSCA requirements.
- Counseled discount product manufacturer and wholesaler through FIFRA enforcement actions involving multiple states, product lines, and allegations of failure to register pesticides and mislabeling. In the most significant enforcement action, we negotiated a resolution with EPA that allowed our client to continue marketing the product at issue as “minimal risk” and included a penalty approximately 60 percent below EPA’s proposal.
- Initiated a section 3 FIFRA registration for an agricultural pesticide.
- Prepared TSCA premanufacture notices for a German company.
- Provided high-level regulatory and policy assistance to the manufacturer of one of the most widely used herbicides in the United States.
- Provided ongoing regulatory counseling to a Fortune 500 manufacturer of consumer and commercial products on FIFRA compliance, including FIFRA’s requirements applicable to “devices” and the self-disclosure to EPA of potential FIFRA violations related to a product line.
- Represented a coalition of wood treaters and pesticide manufacturers before U.S. EPA and the U.S. Occupational Safety & Health Administration on issues related to worker exposure to hexavalent chromium.
- Represented a national birdseed manufacturer on enforcement actions by both U.S. EPA and the state of California under the FIFRA. The agencies have alleged that some of the company’s products constitute unregistered pesticides under federal and state law.
- Represented international mineral mining and processing company in connection with confidential regulatory and enforcement issues arising under FIFRA. The counterparties included EPA and a Fortune 100 global chemical manufacturer. In connection with this matter, we obtained regulatory approval from the EPA that allowed our client to avoid several hundreds of thousands of dollars in costs.
- Sought “me-too” FIFRA end-use registration for a wood preservative.
Eight members of KMCL were recognized by Best Lawyers in 2019 for their excellence in Environmental Law.