U.S. – Oregon Issues Temporary Administrative Order for Toxic Free Kids Act

Vol. 1269 | 13 Sep 2021

On August 26, 2021, the Oregon Health Authority (OHA) filed a temporary administrative order clarifying the requirements of the Toxic Free Kids Act (TKFA). TFKA requires manufacturers of children’s product sold in Oregon to report when certain children’s products contain a High Priority Chemicals of Concern for Children’s Health (HPCCCH) above the practical quantitation limit (PQL) when intentionally added, or above 100 ppm when present as contaminant. Additionally, it also requires manufacturers of children’s products that are mouthable, cosmetics or for children under three years of age to either remove the HPCCCH or apply for a waiver, by the third biennial reporting deadline, January 1, 2022.

The temporary administrative clarifies that the term “unit” within the regulations has the same meaning as “component part”. Oregon issued the order out of concern that some manufacturers were interpreting “unit” to mean the entire product. Since the law requires reporting of the HPCCCH that are present as a contaminant when the amount of the HPCCCH is more than 100 ppm, or 0.01 %, Oregon believes that in many cases a HPCCCH might exceed this reporting limit in a component part of a product, but not in the entire product. Therefore, companies using the entire product approach would be underreporting.

This order aligns Oregon’s law with other state reporting laws such as Washington State, Vermont and Maine which all require reporting based on the level of chemicals in component parts of products and not based on the entire product.

This order goes into effect immediately and expires on February 21, 2022, which means that it applies to the next biennial notification, which is due on January 1, 2022. Oregon expects this clarification to be made permanent via rulemaking in the Fall of 2021.

The temporary administrative order can be referenced here: Temporary Administrative Order: PH 40-2021

A list of Oregon's 68 HPCCCH is referenced here: https://secure.sos.state.or.us/oard/view.action?ruleNumber=333-016-2020

For questions, please contact Matthew Nudell (matthew.nudell@intertek.com ,+1-716-225-9006) or Dr. Pratik Ichhaporia (pratik.ichhaporia@intertek.com,+1-847-212-8273).