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Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 3 / Wednesday, January 6, 2021 / Rules and Regulations
recycled plastic, where no new decaBDE
is added during the recycling or production process.
Affected persons manufacturing, processing, and distributing in commerce decaBDE or decaBDEcontaining products and articles are required to maintain, for three years from the date the record is generated, ordinary business records related to compliance with the restrictions, prohibitions, and other requirements, with an exclusion for persons processing and distributing in commerce for; recycling of plastic that contains decaBDE, those products and articles containing decaBDE from recycled plastic as long as no new decaBDE was added during the recycling process, and plastic shipping pallets manufactured prior to the effective date of the rule. These records must include a statement of compliance with this final rule and be made available to EPA within 30 calendar days upon request.
1. General prohibition and exclusions.
EPA received comments supporting and opposing the proposed general prohibition on manufacture, processing and distribution in commerce of decaBDE and products and articles containing decaBDE. A few commenters suggested a total ban would be practicable instead of the proposed prohibition with exclusions. EPA
disagrees, and believes that this rule prohibits the manufacture, processing and distribution in commerce for use of decaBDE to the extent practicable, reducing any potential activities involving the chemical as a whole, while allowing for several industries to safely finish and replace their applications of the chemical substance.
However, even these uses of decaBDE
are not unlimited and therefore are expected to decline until they cease completely. EPA may review these particular practicability determinations in the future. The prohibition on manufacture, processing and distribution in commerce for all but excluded activities is expected to result in the reduced potential for exposures.
The practicability of prohibiting an excluded activity is further discussed in this Unit and in the Response to Comment document.
2. Hospitality curtains.
As described in the proposed rule, with respect to curtains used in the hospitality industry, EPA understands that most of the industry has moved away from using decaBDE as a flame retardant. However, EPA is aware of one small business that is still using decaBDE while it searches for a replacement flame retardant. EPA

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believes that 18 months from the date of publication of the final rule, rather than an immediate compliance date from manufacturing, processing, and distribution in commerce, is the soonest practicable date for the small business to find a substitute.
3. Aviation and automotive replacement parts and new aviation parts.
As described in the proposed rule, aerospace and automotive vehicles have included parts made with decaBDE, and in many cases decaBDE has been used to meet various flame-retardant standards. Based on comments received, all production of new automotive vehicles with decaBDE-containing parts will have ceased prior to the effective date for this rule; aerospace vehicles will cease such production within a 3year timeframe. However, the decaBDEcontaining parts originally produced for such automotive or for such aerospace vehicles may require replacement parts to meet flame-retardancy standards through the end of the service lifves of the vehicles. Any transition to alternatives for those replacement parts will require verification to meet these standards.
Imposing immediate restrictions on replacement parts for those vehicles could increase costs and safety concerns, but, as noted in this Unit, without meaningful exposure reductions. As a result, in this final rule, EPA is adopting an alternative compliance deadline of 2036 for motor vehicles and the end of the service lives for aerospace vehicles from the prohibition on the manufacture including import, processing, and distribution in commerce of decaBDE
for use in aerospace or automotive replacement parts, and the replacement parts that contain decaBDE. The manufacture including import, processing, and distribution in commerce of decaBDE for use in new automotive parts will be prohibited, as discussed further in this Unit, and the manufacture including import, processing, and distribution in commerce of decaBDE for use in new aerospace parts will be prohibited three years after publication of the final rule.
For the purpose of this rule, replacement parts are those parts designed before the rule promulgation date to replace parts already made with decaBDE. Thus, for example, this exclusion does not allow replacement parts containing decaBDE to be manufactured, processed or distributed in commerce to replace parts that were not previously designed to contain decaBDE.

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EPAs alternative compliance deadline for replacement parts for these vehicles results from several considerations. Article components containing decaBDE for finished parts in automobiles and aircraft have limited releases. Exposure and Use Assessment. In addition to limited releases, and therefore limited exposures, as further discussed in the proposed rule and in the Response to Comment document, identifying and adopting appropriate substitutes for use in replacement parts for these vehicles can be a complex and time-consuming process. Further, the scope of this alternative compliance deadline is limited. For automotive vehicles, the scope is limited only to those parts intended to replace decaBDE-containing parts for automotive vehicles already produced; no new parts may be produced for new automotive vehicles under this alternative deadline. For aerospace vehicles, the scope is similarly limited to only those parts intended to replace decaBDE-containing parts for aerospace vehicles produced before the 3-year compliance deadline for such vehicles. That means those aerospace parts and the vehicles will have already been designed and in the production process; no newly designed parts may be produced using decaBDE
even during the 3-year alternative compliance period, and after the 3-year compliance period only replacement parts, as defined earlier in the Unit, will be permitted. Finally, the compliance deadlines in each case are consistent with comments provided, e.g., identifying 15 years as the needed period for retaining replacement parts for automotive vehicles, and identifying the aerospace vehicle service life as the needed period for retaining replacement parts for aerospace vehicles. Ref. 7, EPAHQOPPT201900800542 Such compliance deadlines also align with the specified exemption for use of decaBDE in parts for such vehicles in the Stockholm Convention. For the use of replacement parts for automotive vehicles, for example, EPA is not aware of any decaBDE-containing parts that are outside the scope of the replacement parts listed in Annex A, Part IX of the Stockholm Convention Ref. 13. In the case of aerospace vehicles, the timeframe provided in this final rule is actually narrower more restrictive than the timeframe provided by the Stockholm Convention. These examples support that the market for replacement parts containing decaBDE will have diminished by the compliance dates in this rule. Three commenters requested EPA change its statutory interpretation
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