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TRI Reporting Forms Modification Rule
Rule Summary
In 2005, to improve reporting efficiency and effectiveness, reduce burden, and promote data reliability and consistency across Agency programs, EPA simplified the Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) reporting requirements. This rule removed some data elements from the reporting Form R and Form A Certification Statement, streamlined other TRI data elements through range codes and a reduced number of reporting codes, and eliminated a few data elements from the Form R.
TRI reporting is required by Section 313 of the Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act (EPCRA) and Section 6607 of the Pollution Prevention Act (PPA).
Rule History
In 1994, partially in response to petitions received from the U.S. Small Business Administration Office of Advocacy and the American Feed Industry Association, an EPA rulemaking established the Form A Certification Statement as an alternative to the Form R. This burden-reducing measure was based on an alternate threshold for quantities manufactured, processed, or otherwise used by those facilities with relatively low annual reportable amounts of TRI chemicals.
In an effort to further explore burden reduction opportunities, EPA conducted a TRI Stakeholder Dialogue between November 2002 and February 2004. The dialogue process focused on identifying improvements to the TRI reporting process and exploring a number of burden reduction options associated with TRI reporting. As a result of the Stakeholder Dialogue, the Agency identified a number of burden reducing options, which fell into two broad categories: (1) Changes or modifications to the reporting forms and processes (including modifications to the forms and improvements in the TRI online reporting software) to streamline reporting without significantly affecting the information collected; and (2) what the Agency believed were more substantial changes that may affect which facilities are required to report and at what level of detail. EPA decided to address the two categories of changes through separate rulemakings, one of which was the July 12, 2005, final rule.
Additional Resources
Final Rule (PDF)(19 pp, 256 K, About PDF)
Proposed Rule (PDF)(13 pp, 230 K, About PDF)