U.S. Maine LD 217 law governing PFAS-containing products

Vol. 1363 | 26 Jun 2023

In the U.S. state of Maine, LD 217, a law governing per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in products, was signed into law on June 8, 2023. The enactment of this law has brought changes to Maine's reporting requirements. The key provisions are outlined as follows:

Section 1:

Manufacturers must report intentionally added PFAS, including product description, purpose, amount of each PFAS using CAS number, contact information of manufacturer and any other additional information established by the department.

Updates:

• The reporting deadline for PFAS (as outlined in LD 1503) has been extended from January 1, 2023, to January 1, 2025.
• Manufacturers should provide a description of the product, including the estimated total number of units sold annually in the state or nationally. In the absence of a Chemical Abstracts Service (CAS) Registry number, an allowance has been made to provide a description of the product as approved by the department. Manufacturers may describe the product as an exact quantity of each PFAS compound, or as the amount of Total Organic Fluorine, determined by analytical methods, based on information provided by the supplier, as falling within the range approved for reporting.

Section 2:

Updates:

• The requirements of this subsection do not apply if the employer has 25 or fewer employees.

Section 3:

If a Federal law governs the presence of PFAS in a product, then the product would be exempted from the State law.

Updates:

• A package, as defined in Title 32, section 1732, subsection 4, except when package is the product of the manufacturer.
• Used products and product components are exempted.

Section 4:

The prohibitions do not apply to an exempted product (I.e., if the Maine department determines that PFAS cannot be avoided in the product) and to retailers (unless the retailer has received notification that the sale of the product is prohibited.).

Updates:

• A manufacturer exempted from the notification requirement pursuant to subsection 2, paragraph D;
• A product for which the department has waived the notification requirement pursuant to subsection 3; and
• A manufacturer that pursuant to subsection 3 has received from the department an extension of the deadline for submission of the information required by subsection 2. The exception under this paragraph applies only for the duration of the extension provided by the department.

The LD 217 can be accessed here.

If you have any questions, please contact our technical experts Andrew Loveland (andrew.loveland@intertek.com) and Harini Ramaswamy (harini.ramaswamy@intertek.com). 

You can also visit our Global Market Access Knowledge Portal at gma.intertek.com to get up-to-date global compliance information tailored to your needs for 180 product types in over 40 different markets with a few clicks.