Recap on 2013 reporting and enforcement
ARB reported registrations for 1,400 Responsible Parties and 700 formulators registering. Of those, 1,300 have reported completion of the survey. ARB has published a summary of the 2013 data, which includes listing the Responsible Parties that reported. ARB has started sending letters to those who registered, but did not complete the survey, giving them a last chance to contact the Board and provide a time to completion. If your company received a letter and you should have reported, responding immediately and establishing a time to completion with the Board may be your company’s last opportunity to avoid enforcement. And remember – since this is a three-year reporting obligation, the problem is not going away, and ignoring the Board will just compound the problem.
Reporting for 2014
User feedback on the 2013 reporting process was consistent in reporting the tool to be clunky, the instructions dense, and the upload portal confusing. As a result, ARB has issued a new tool for 2014 that is based on Excel with a point-and-click interface and functioning on traditional spreadsheets.
ARB has also sought to avoid Responsible Parties having to resubmit duplicate data from 2013. To ease this burden, ARB will make a file available to each party that completed the 2013 survey (properly) containing the data from 2013, including company information and product information. The new tool plus the downloadable file will enable parties to indicate whether information for each product is the same or contained minor or major changes. It also allows for the addition of new products that had sales in 2014 but not 2013. For products with no changes, a party will only have to report 2014 sales. For changes, the party will need to provide updated information, but not start a new entry.
For parties that will be submitting 2014 data and did not submit in 2013, despite having sales in California, the tool allows for the party to submit 2013 data along with 2014 data without having to go through the process twice. As it does not appear that ARB has yet to move from the carrot to the stick, if your company should have reported in 2013 but didn’t, your best move may be to submit 2013 and 2014 data together by November 1 – it is unlikely that ARB will look kindly on knowing failure to report for 2013.
More information
ARB has an information page that provides survey instructions, including on the new reporting tool, and it is hosting a webinar on September 16, 2014 at 10 AM PST to go over reporting, the new tool, and the upload portal.
