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On June 22, 2016, President Obama signed into law the Frank R. Lautenberg Chemical Safety for the 21st Century Act which amends the Toxic Substance Control Act (TSCA), the Nation's primary chemicals management law. A summary of the new law, which includes much needed improvements to TSCA, is available at https://www.epa.gov/assessing-and-managing-chemicals-under-tsca/frank-r-lautenberg-chemical-safety-21st-century-act. This particular rulemaking effort involves the revised TSCA section 6(b)(4), which requires EPA to promulgate a final rule within 1 year of enactment to establish EPA's process for evaluating the risk of existing chemical substances and determining whether they present an unreasonable risk of injury to health or the environment, without consideration of costs or other non-risk factors, including an unreasonable risk to a potentially exposed or susceptible subpopulation identified as relevant to the risk evaluation by the Administrator, under the conditions of use.

Statement of Need: As required by statute, the EPA must establish EPA's process for evaluating the risk of existing chemical substances and determining whether they present an unreasonable risk of injury to health or the environment, without consideration of costs or other non-risk factors, including an unreasonable risk to a potentially exposed or susceptible subpopulation identified as relevant to the risk evaluation by the Administrator, under the conditions of use.

Summary of the Legal Basis: This particular rulemaking effort involves the revised TSCA section 6(b)(4), which requires EPA to promulgate a final rule within 1 year of enactment to establish EPA's process for evaluating the risk of existing chemical substances and determining whether they present an unreasonable risk of injury to health or the environment, without consideration of costs or other non-risk factors, including an unreasonable risk to a potentially exposed or susceptible subpopulation identified as relevant to the risk evaluation by the Administrator, under the conditions of use.

Alternatives: Alternatives will be developed as part of the development of a proposed rule.

Anticipated Costs and Benefits: The EPA will prepare a regulatory impact analysis as part of the development of a proposed rule.

Risks: This will be a procedural rule related to risk evaluations. It is not intended to address any particular risk.