40 CFR Part 350 allows facilities to withhold certain chemical information when reporting under EPCRA if the facility claims those chemicals to be a trade secret. When submitting the required trade secret claim package for Tier II reports, must a facility use the federal Tier II inventory form or can a facility complete the trade secret claim package using a state-specific form?

If a facility wants to claim information about a certain chemical as a trade secret, the facility should use the federal Tier II Emergency and Hazardous Chemical Inventory Form (EPA Form 8700-30) to ensure all the necessary information is included, as well as the appropriate substantiation. Therefore, a complete trade secret claim package that is sent to EPA must include both a sanitized and an unsanitized Tier II report as well as sanitized and unsanitized versions of the Trade Secret Substantiation Form (EPA Form 9510-1). The facility must also send a sanitized version of the Tier II report and the Trade Secret Substantiation Form to the appropriate state and local agencies.

Additional guidance for completing the trade secret package can be found in the Instructions for Completing the EPCRA Trade Secret Substantiation Form (EPA550-B-14-001), which is available at the following URL:

https://19january2021snapshot.epa.gov/epcra/epcra-trade-secret-forms-and-instructions