§770.18. Ultra low-emitting formaldehyde resins. — Inbound Citations

(1) Such panels must not be sold, offered for sale or supplied to any entity other than a TPC laboratory before testing in accordance with § 770.17, § 770.18, or § 770.20.

(1) Laminated products made by attaching a wood or woody grass veneer with a phenol-formaldehyde resin to a platform that has been manufactured in compliance with this part (including either certified in accordance with § 770.15, manufactured with no-added formaldehyde-based resins under § 770.17, or manufactured with ultra low-emitting formaldehyde-based resins under § 770.18).

(a) Panel producers must maintain the following records for a period of three years, except that records demonstrating initial eligibility for reduced testing or third-party certification exemption under § 770.17 or § 770.18 must be kept for as long as the panel producer is producing composite wood products with reduced testing or under a third-party certification exemption. The following records must also be made available to the panel producers' EPA TSCA Title VI TPCs. Panel producers must make the records described in paragraph (a)(1) of this section available to direct purchasers of their composite wood products. This information may not be withheld from direct purchasers as confidential business information.

(1) These records must identify the EPA TSCA Title VI TPC conducting or overseeing the testing. These records must also include the date, the product type tested, the lot number that the tested material represents, the test method used, and the test results.

(2) These records must identify the EPA TSCA Title VI TPC conducting or overseeing the testing and the facility actually performing the testing. These records must also include the date, the product type tested, the lot number that the tested material represents, the test method used, and the test results.

(3) Production records, including a description of the composite wood product(s), the date of manufacture, lot numbers, and tracking information allowing each product to be traced to a specific lot produced.

(4) Records of changes in production, including changes of more than ten percent in the resin use percentage, changes in resin composition that result in a higher ratio of formaldehyde to other resin components, and changes in the process, such as changes in press time by more than 20%.

(5) Records demonstrating initial and continued eligibility for the reduced testing provisions in §§ 770.17 and 770.18, if applicable. These records must include:

(i) Approval for reduced testing from an EPA TSCA Title VI TPC or CARB;

(ii) Amount of resin use reported by volume and weight;

(iii) Production volume reported as square feet per product type;

(iv) Resin trade name, resin manufacturer contact information (name, address, phone number, and email), and resin supplier contact information (name, address, phone number, and email); and

(6) Purchaser information for each composite wood product, if applicable, including the name, contact person if available, address, telephone number, email address if available, purchase order or invoice number, and amount purchased.

(7) Transporter information for each composite wood product, if applicable, including name, contact person, address, telephone number, email address if available, and shipping invoice number.

(8) Information on the disposition of non-complying lots, including product type and amount of composite wood products affected, lot numbers, purchasers who received product belonging to non-complying lots (if any), copies of purchaser notifications used (if any), mitigation measures used, results of retesting, and final disposition.

(3) Only panels or bundles of panels manufactured in accordance with § 770.18 may also be labeled that they were made with ultra low-emitting formaldehyde resins in addition to the other information required by this section.

(iii) For panel producers that do not receive approval for NAF or ULEF third-party certification exemptions or ULEF reduced testing from CARB, EPA TSCA Title VI TPCs must review applications for NAF or ULEF third-party certification exemptions or ULEF reduced testing. Each EPA TSCA Title VI TPC must approve these applications within 90 calendar days of receipt if the panel producer demonstrates that the requirements for third-party certification exemption under § 770.17 or § 770.18 or reduced testing under § 770.18 are met.

(f) Products that are represented by a quarterly test result that exceeds the applicable emission standard in this section or a quality control test that indicates that the product exceeds the applicable emission standard in this section lose their reduced testing approval and must reapply as specified under § 770.18(a).

(iv) Composite wood products that have been approved by an EPA TSCA Title VI TPC or CARB for reduced testing under § 770.18(b) through (c) must be tested at least once per week per product type and, for particle board and medium-density fiberboard, per production line, for products produced that week, except that hardwood plywood panel producers who qualify for less frequent testing under paragraph (b)(2)(iii)(D) of this section may continue to perform quality control testing under that provision.

(e) Products that have obtained an exemption from the California Air Resources Board will also be exempt from the requirements in §§ 770.15, 770.20, and 770.40(b) if they meet the requirements under § 770.18(d) and the requirements of the California Air Resources Board remain as stringent as EPA's requirements. Products that have obtained approval for reduced testing from the California Air Resources Board will be granted approval to conduct less frequent testing than is specified in § 770.20 if they meet the requirements under § 770.18(c) and the requirements of the California Air Resources Board remain as stringent as EPA's requirements.

(iv) Composite wood products that have been approved by an EPA TSCA Title VI TPC or CARB for reduced testing under § 770.18(b) through (c) must be tested at least once per week per product type and, for particle board and medium-density fiberboard, per production line, for products produced that week, except that hardwood plywood panel producers who qualify for less frequent testing under paragraph (b)(2)(iii)(D) of this section may continue to perform quality control testing under that provision.

(4) Designed primarily not for use as a permanent dwelling but as temporary living quarters for recreational, camping, travel, or seasonal use.

Resin system means type of resin used, including but not limited to urea-formaldehyde, soy, phenol-formaldehyde, or melamine-urea-formaldehyde.

Retailer means any person or entity that sells, offers for sale, or supplies directly to consumers composite wood products, component parts or finished goods that contain composite wood products, except that persons or entities in the construction trades are not considered retailers by selling, renovating, or remodeling buildings.

Scavenger means a chemical or chemicals that can be applied to resins or composite wood products either during or after manufacture and that react with residual or excess formaldehyde to reduce the amount of formaldehyde that can be emitted from composite wood products.

Shipping quality control limit means a quality control limit that is developed in conjunction with an EPA TSCA Title VI TPC that is based on panels prior to shipment rather than immediately after manufacturing.

Stockpiling means manufacturing or purchasing composite wood products, whether in the form of panels or incorporated into component parts or finished goods, between July 7, 2010 and June 12, 2017 at an average rate at least 20% greater than the average rate of manufacture or purchase during the 2009 calendar year for the purpose of circumventing the emission standards and other requirements of this subpart.

Surveillance On-Site Assessment means a set of on-site activities that are less comprehensive than reassessment, to monitor the continued fulfilment by accredited conformance assessment bodies of requirements for accreditation, as described in sections 7.4 to 7.13 of ISO/IEC 17011:2017(E) (incorporated by reference, see § 770.99).

Thin medium-density fiberboard means medium-density fiberboard that has a thickness less than or equal to 8 millimeters or 0.315 inches.

Third-party certifier or TPC means a conformity assessment body that provides both product certification services and laboratory testing services (either directly or through contracted services).

TPC laboratory means a laboratory or contract laboratory of an EPA TSCA Title VI TPC that is accredited by an EPA TSCA Title VI Laboratory AB to ISO/IEC 17025:2017(E) (incorporated by reference, see § 770.99), and whose inspection activities are in conformance with ISO/IEC 17020:2012(E) (incorporated by reference, see § 770.99).

Ultra low-emitting formaldehyde resin means a resin in a composite wood product that meets the emission standards in § 770.18(c).

Veneer means a sheet of wood or woody grass with a maximum thickness of 6.4 millimeters ( 1/4 inch) that is rotary cut, sliced, or sawed from a log, bolt, flitch, block, or culm; including engineered veneer.

Veneer core means a platform for making hardwood plywood or laminated products that consists of veneer.

Woody grass means a plant of the family Poaceae (formerly Gramineae) with hard lignified tissues or woody parts.

(e) Products that have obtained an exemption from the California Air Resources Board will also be exempt from the requirements in §§ 770.15, 770.20, and 770.40(b) if they meet the requirements under § 770.18(d) and the requirements of the California Air Resources Board remain as stringent as EPA's requirements. Products that have obtained approval for reduced testing from the California Air Resources Board will be granted approval to conduct less frequent testing than is specified in § 770.20 if they meet the requirements under § 770.18(c) and the requirements of the California Air Resources Board remain as stringent as EPA's requirements.