%20(9).png)
On November 28, 2025, the EPA quietly announced something important: it’s re-evaluating its 2024 risk-management rule for perchloroethylene (also called PCE).
If you don’t spend your days parsing chemical names, here’s the quick version: PCE is a long-standing industrial solvent with serious health concerns — and EPA is deciding whether its current restrictions go far enough, or need to be adjusted.
This update matters for retailers, suppliers, and anyone using product data to stay compliant, because it signals another shift in the regulatory landscape — right in the middle of implementation timelines many companies were already working toward.
Let’s break it down in plain English.
PCE is a synthetic chemical solvent. You may have heard of it because it’s been widely used in:
Chemically, it belongs to the family of chlorinated hydrocarbons — and it has been linked to serious health risks, especially for workers with repeated exposure.
Because under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA), the EPA determined that many uses of PCE present an “unreasonable risk” to human health — especially for workers and people in facilities where the chemical is used.
Exposure to PCE has been linked to:
After completing its risk evaluation, EPA issued a 2024 rule that:
This was one of the more sweeping TSCA risk-management actions to date.
EPA is now reconsidering the 2024 rule.
Specifically, the agency says it plans to:
Nothing changes today — but businesses that already started compliance planning may need to recalibrate.
Why the revision? EPA hasn’t said outright, but common drivers include:
Regardless of reason, it means: the regulatory ground is moving again.
Some companies were already planning phase-outs or engineering controls based on the 2024 rule. Those dates may move as EPA revisits the details.
Chemical-specific rules — especially under TSCA — depend entirely on knowing what’s in a product and how it’s used.
Retailers often discover PCE hiding in:
If the ingredient is missing, vague, or outdated, compliance becomes guesswork.
Re-evaluation doesn’t mean “walk back.” It can mean strengthening requirements — especially around:
This reconsideration fits within a broader shift: EPA is tightening controls across legacy industrial chemicals — not only PCE and PFAS, but also solvents, metals, flame retardants, plasticizers, and more.
This signals that accurate SDSs, enriched product data, and real-time updates are becoming the difference between compliance and risk.
EPA’s new announcement tells us that the existing PCE rule isn’t set in stone: changes are coming, timelines may shift, and compliance strategies need to stay flexible.
In a regulatory landscape where chemical rules are being rewritten in real time, product truth matters — clear formulations, clean data, and consistent updates.
Smarter Sorting will continue monitoring the revisions and help retailers and brands understand what’s changing, what’s expected, and how to stay ahead.