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Frequently Asked Questions
2012 Chemical Data Reporting

Determining If You Are a Manufacturer or Importer Required to Report

13. Production Volume Thresholds

13.1 How does a company determine whether it has reporting obligations for the 2012 CDR?
For the 2012 submission period, a person who manufactured (including imported) for commercial purposes 25,000 pounds or more of a reportable chemical substance at any single site during 2011 is generally subject to reporting (see 40 CFR 711.8(a)), unless the person is eligible for certain exemptions, such as the small manufacturer exemption (see 40 CFR 711.9) or exemptions for certain activities (see 40 CFR 711.10). A new method to determine the need to report will be effective after the 2012 CDR submission period. .


13.2 How do manufacturers avoid double counting of chemical substances in intermediates and final products? If a chemical substance is an isolated intermediate during production, that’s to be counted. However, if that same chemical substance is present in the final product, should it be added to the amount of isolated intermediate or should the amount in the final product be reported, assuming that amount is greater than what’s present in the intermediates?
A substance is reported when it is manufactured. If it is manufactured as an intermediate, then the substance is reportable at that time. If the intermediate that is present in the final product is unreacted material, then it does not need to be reported as part of the final product.


13.3 For the 2012 CDR, are domestically bought substances that are used in processes and are reacted to manufacture a product reportable? The final product is not a mixture containing this substance. The substance either is reacted completely, or whatever remains unreacted is sent to waste. Also, is the threshold applied to manufacture and import, or to product sold?
Only the manufacturer or importer of a substance is required to report under CDR. A domestically purchased substance does not have to be reported for CDR. However, any substance that is manufactured from the purchased substance is reportable. For example, if Company X domestically purchased chemical A and chemical B and reacts them to create chemical C, Company X must only report chemical C.

Reporting is triggered by the amount manufactured, not the amount sold. If in 2011 a company manufactured 35,000 pounds and sold 20,000 pounds, the 35,000 pounds would be reported. Likewise, if in 2011 a company manufactured 20,000 pounds and sold 35,000 pounds (including volumes manufactured in previous years), no reporting would be necessary, because the 20,000 pounds that was manufactured is below the 25,000 pound reporting threshold.


13.4 If a company began producing a chemical substance in January 2012, does the company need to send the EPA a CDR report for 2011 with all zeros?
No. The reporting requirement is for chemical substances produced in volumes of 25,000 pounds or more during 2011. Since the company’s 2011 production was under 25,000 pounds, the company has no reporting obligations for that chemical for the 2012 CDR submission period. However, for the 2016 CDR submission period, the company would be required to report for a site if the site’s production volume for the chemical substance was 25,000 pounds or greater for any of the calendar years 2012 to 2015.


13.5 If a company manufactured 31,000 pounds of a reportable chemical substance at one site and 20,000 pounds at another site, does the production volume meet or exceed the threshold for reporting?
The company only needs to report for those sites at which it manufactured (including imported) 25,000 pounds or more of a chemical substance. Therefore, the company would report the 31,000 pounds manufactured at the first site, but is not required to report the 20,000 pounds manufactured at the second site.


13.6 What if a company both manufactures and imports a chemical substance at a plant site?
The company should aggregate the total amount of the chemical substance manufactured and imported at the site to determine if the 25,000 pound threshold has been met.


13.7 An importer with one site in the U.S. imports the same chemical from two different companies (located in two different countries). Does the importer add the amounts from each source together or are they kept separate?
The importer adds the imported volumes of the same chemical received at the same site, regardless of the source. Note that this also applies to mixtures - when a mixture is imported, the component chemicals of that mixture are subject to CDR. The determination of whether the production volume threshold is met is based upon the total imports for the chemical substance.


13.8 If a company imports 1 million pounds of a mixture containing 90 percent Chemical A, 9 percent Chemical B, and 1 percent Chemical C, how is this reported? Chemicals A, B, and C are all potentially subject to CDR.
The company should evaluate the reporting requirements for each constituent of the mixture.
Chemical A: 900,000 pounds (1,000,000 pounds x 90 percent) imported; complete Parts I, II, and III of Form U.
Chemical B: 90,000 pounds imported; complete and submit Parts I and II of Form U.
Chemical C: 10,000 pounds imported; no reporting because the 25,000 pound threshold was not met.
13.9 A company imports 200,000 pounds of Alloy 123 and knows the percentage of each component in the alloy (see table below). How does the company report for Alloy 123 under the CDR regulation?


Component % in Alloy 123 PV (lb)
Nickel 52% 104,000
Iron 35% 70,000
Cadmium 5% 10,000
Molybdenum 3% 6,000
Chromium 2% 4,000
Titanium 0.9% 1,800
Copper 0.9% 1,800
Carbon 0.6% 1,200
Aluminum 0.4% 800
Silicon 0.2% 400


The company must consider each component of Alloy 123 independently and determine if it meets the CDR criteria. The calculations in pounds for each constituent have been added above in the third column. Only Nickel and Iron would be reportable, because they are the only two components with production volumes above 25,000 pounds. Additionally, processing and use information would only need to be reported for Nickel, because it is the only component produced above 100,000 pounds.

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