On July 2, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) published in the Federal Register interim final action to revise the compliance date in the recent amendments to the national aerosol coatings rule. In response to industry concerns, EPA is delaying the compliance date from July 17, 2025, to Jan. 17, 2027. ACA raised this issue with the agency during the initial rulemaking and after publication of the final rule, arguing that the 6-month lead time for compliance was insufficient and truncated. By pushing the compliance date back by one-and-a-half years, the interim final rule will give industry additional time to reformulate, relabel, and adapt distribution methods in order to comply with the amended national aerosol coatings rule.

Notably, the Administrative Procedure Act (APA) authorizes EPA to forego a formal notice and comment period and issue an interim final rule “when the agency for good cause finds…that notice and public procedure thereon are impracticable, unnecessary, or contrary to the public interest” (see 5 U.S. Code § 553(b)).

For the aerosol coatings rule, EPA found good cause to issue an interim final rule to extend the compliance date without prior notice and comment. The agency determined that it would be impracticable to follow normal rulemaking procedures in the time available without unavoidable adverse consequences or potential inadvertent violations of the amended requirements. Ultimately, EPA concluded that refraining from amending the compliance date before it goes into effect would “needlessly put many regulated entities out of compliance and ultimately jeopardize the EPA’s ability to work with regulated entities to achieve the protective outcomes envisioned in the aerosol coatings rule.”

While the interim final rule is effective immediately, EPA will still accept and consider comments submitted after the rule takes effect. However, comments will be limited to only the revised compliance date of Jan. 17, 2027 (i.e., the agency will not accept comments on other provisions in the amended aerosol coatings rule).

Background

On Jan. 17, 2025, EPA published amendments to the national aerosol coatings rule, with the July 17, 2025 compliance date. EPA’s national rule establishes reactivity-based emission standards for the aerosol coatings category (aerosol spray paints) under the Clean Air Act. With this action, EPA aligned its rule with the California Air Resources Board’s aerosol coatings rule, which will help aerosol coatings manufacturers with streamlined compliance.

EPA’s final amendments are the direct result of three petitions for rulemaking submitted by ACA, and an eight-year advocacy campaign on behalf of the coatings industry to convince EPA to adopt changes to the national rule so that it largely matches the CARB rule and is informed by the most up-to-date and accepted science.

Notably, the final rule features the following changes, for which ACA advocated:

  • Updated product-weighted reactivity limits by coatings category that align completely with CARB’s coatings categories (see Table 1);
  • Updated MIR values for several aerosol coatings compounds that align with CARB’s Table of MIR Values (see Tables 2A, 2B & 2C);
  • New compounds and reactivity factors in Tables 2A, 2B & 2C to align with CARB’s Table of MIR Values;
  • Revised default reactivity value (18.50 g O3/g VOC);
  • New and updated definitions to better align with CARB’s rule (when appropriate and feasible); and
  • Addition of electronic reporting provisions.

ACA believes that EPA’s final action will minimize the undue compliance burdens that the divergent regulatory schemes have created for the aerosol coatings industry. Until these amendments were adopted, manufacturers were required to comply with different standards in California and use different Maximum Incremental Reactivity (MIR) values in order to calculate compliance.

Contact ACA’s Rhett Cash, Heidi McAuliffe, or Annebelle Klein for more information.