TSCA, EPA, and Shipping Chemicals: What You Need to Know for Compliance

If you manufacture, import, or sell chemical products — cleaning supplies, adhesives, essential oils, industrial solvents, paint, or anything containing regulated substances — you are operating within a regulatory framework that can impose serious fines for noncompliance. The Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA), enforced by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), governs which chemicals can be sold in the United States and under what conditions. The Department of Transportation (DOT) controls how those chemicals are shipped. These are different regulatory bodies with different rules, and you need to satisfy both.

Most small businesses selling chemical products are not deliberately ignoring regulations — they simply do not realize the regulations apply to them. An Etsy seller offering handmade cleaning products, a small manufacturer distributing adhesives, or an importer bringing essential oils from overseas all fall under TSCA and DOT shipping rules whether they know it or not.

TSCA and the EPA Inventory

The TSCA was originally passed in 1976 and substantially updated by the Lautenberg Chemical Safety Act in 2016. It gives the EPA authority over chemical substances manufactured, imported, processed, distributed, or used in the United States. The centerpiece of this authority is the TSCA Inventory — a list of approximately 86,000 chemical substances that have been reviewed and are approved for commercial use.

If every chemical in your product appears on the TSCA Inventory, you can manufacture and sell it under existing regulations. If your product contains a chemical that is not on the inventory, it is classified as a "new chemical substance," and you must submit a Pre-Manufacture Notice (PMN) to the EPA at least 90 days before manufacturing or importing it. The EPA reviews the PMN to assess potential health and environmental risks. Manufacturing or importing a non-inventoried chemical without filing a PMN can result in penalties exceeding $40,000 per day per violation.

Some chemicals are exempt from TSCA because they are regulated under separate laws. Pesticides fall under FIFRA (Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act) and are regulated by a different EPA division. Food additives, drugs, and cosmetics are governed by the FDA. Tobacco, firearms, and nuclear materials have their own regulatory agencies. The exemption only applies if the chemical is used exclusively in the exempt category — a chemical used both as a cosmetic ingredient and an industrial solvent would need to comply with both FDA rules for the cosmetic use and TSCA for the industrial use.

Significant New Use Rules and Reporting

Beyond the basic inventory requirement, TSCA includes Significant New Use Rules (SNURs) that restrict how certain chemicals can be used. A chemical might be on the TSCA Inventory and approved for use as a paint additive, but a SNUR could prohibit using that same chemical in a consumer cleaning product. Before using any chemical in a way that differs from its established commercial uses, check whether a SNUR applies.

Manufacturers and importers handling chemicals above certain volume thresholds also face reporting obligations under the Chemical Data Reporting (CDR) rule. If you manufacture or import 25,000 pounds or more of a chemical substance at a single site during a reporting year, you must submit production volume, use, and exposure data to the EPA every four years. Smaller manufacturers are generally exempt from CDR, but the threshold applies per chemical per site, not in aggregate.

Record-keeping is a TSCA requirement that catches many businesses off guard. You must retain records of chemical purchases, Safety Data Sheets (SDS), production volumes, distribution records, and any adverse incident reports for at least five years. The EPA can request these records during inspections or investigations, and not having them is itself a violation.

DOT Shipping Requirements

TSCA compliance gets your chemicals legally onto the market. DOT compliance gets them legally onto a truck. The DOT regulates the transportation of hazardous materials under 49 CFR (Code of Federal Regulations), and many chemical products qualify as hazardous materials for shipping purposes even if they seem benign in normal use.

The first step is determining whether your product is a DOT-regulated hazardous material. This classification is based on the chemical's properties — flammability, corrosiveness, toxicity, reactivity, and oxidizing potential. The Safety Data Sheet (SDS) for each chemical in your product contains the hazard classification information you need. Section 14 of the SDS specifically covers transport information and will tell you the UN number, proper shipping name, hazard class, and packing group.

Common chemical products that require hazardous materials shipping include nail polish and nail polish remover (flammable liquids, Class 3), lithium batteries in devices (miscellaneous dangerous goods, Class 9), aerosol sprays (flammable gas, Class 2.1), pool chemicals (oxidizers, Class 5.1), and many essential oils (flammable liquids, Class 3). Even common household products like rubbing alcohol and hand sanitizer are DOT-regulated hazardous materials because of their alcohol content.

Once you know your product's hazard class, DOT requirements include proper packaging (UN-certified containers for the specific hazard class), hazard labels on the outer packaging, a shipping paper or dangerous goods declaration accompanying the shipment, and employee training for anyone involved in preparing hazardous material shipments. Training must be completed before an employee can prepare hazmat shipments and renewed every three years.

Carrier Restrictions and Surcharges

Not all carriers handle all classes of hazardous materials, and those that do typically impose surcharges and restrictions. USPS has the most restrictions — it prohibits most hazardous materials entirely, with limited exceptions for consumer quantities of certain products like perfume (small quantities via ground only) and dry ice. If your product is DOT-classified as hazardous, USPS is generally not an option.

UPS and FedEx both accept many classes of hazardous materials but require the shipper to complete hazmat certification and use approved packaging with proper labeling. Hazmat surcharges typically run $35-50 per package on top of standard shipping rates. Both carriers also restrict certain hazard classes from air transport, limiting you to ground service for flammable liquids and other higher-risk categories.

For businesses shipping hazardous chemicals in quantity, freight carriers specializing in chemical logistics — companies like Labelmaster, ChemLogix, and specialized LTL carriers — offer better rates and more expertise than parcel carriers. If you are shipping pallets of chemical products rather than individual consumer packages, LTL freight with a hazmat-certified carrier is both cheaper and more appropriate.

Practical Steps for Small Chemical Businesses

If you are a small business selling chemical products, the compliance path is straightforward even if it feels daunting at first. Start by confirming every chemical ingredient in your product is on the TSCA Inventory — your raw material suppliers should be able to provide this confirmation. Obtain and file Safety Data Sheets for every chemical component. Determine your DOT hazard classification from the SDS. Set up compliant packaging and labeling for shipping. Train any employee who handles shipping on hazmat procedures. And keep records of everything for at least five years.

The cost of compliance is modest compared to the penalties for noncompliance. TSCA violations can reach $44,539 per day. DOT hazmat violations start at $500 and can exceed $80,000 per violation. A shipping platform like Atoship can help manage carrier selection and labeling requirements for hazardous shipments, but the underlying compliance — TSCA registration, SDS documentation, hazmat training — is the seller's responsibility and cannot be outsourced.