Our 2023 Retail Industry Year in Review provides a comprehensive overview of recent developments, issues, and trends impacting retailers, as well as a look ahead at what to expect in 2024. We hope you will take a few minutes to review our new publication released last week.

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On December 14, 2023, the European Parliament and the European Council reached a provisional deal on the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CS3D). Initially proposed by the European Commission in February of 2022, the CS3D requires certain companies to account for and mitigate adverse human rights and environmental impacts throughout their supply chains, including both their own operations as well as upstream and downstream activities. In November 2022, the European Council adopted the general approach proposed by the European Commission. Since then, the Council and the European Parliament have negotiated the parameters of the CS3D to reach a provisional agreement. While press releases from the Council, the Parliament, and the Commission all confirm an agreement has been reached, the text of the agreed upon CS3D is not yet publicly available. It is likely to be released in early 2024.Continue Reading EU Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive Nearly Final

With the growing emergence of Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) laws, companies selling products in the United States must increasingly plan for the end of a product’s life. EPR programs shift waste-management responsibilities that have traditionally been handled by consumers or state and local governments to the “producer” of the product.
Continue Reading Extended Producer Responsibility for Packaging: What’s Ahead in 2024

On October 7, 2023 California Governor Gavin Newsom signed two landmark climate disclosure laws aimed at making major companies publicly disclose their greenhouse gas emissions and report on their climate-related financial risks.
Continue Reading First-in-the-Nation Climate Disclosure Bills Become Law In California

In June 2023, EPA announced the dates for the 2024 submission period for information required under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) Chemical Data Reporting (CDR) rule. The information is collected every four years from manufacturers and importers of certain chemicals in commerce, generally when production volumes for those chemicals are 25,000 pounds or greater in a given reporting year. The 2024 submission period runs from June 1, 2024 to September 30, 2024.
Continue Reading EPA Announces Submission Period for 2024 Chemical Data Reporting

As published on Hunton’s Nickel Report, in May 2023, Minnesota’s Governor Walz signed into law HF 2310, which bans the sale of certain products containing “intentionally added” per- and- polyfluoroalkyl substances in 2025 and then all products in 2032, and also establishes reporting requirements for products containing PFAS starting in 2026.
Continue Reading Minnesota Becomes Second State to Pass Sweeping PFAS Ban and Reporting Law Targeting All Products

In February 2023, the US Environmental Protection Agency’s Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance quietly released a Compliance Advisory “What You Need to Know about Producing, Distributing, or Selling Pesticide Devices.”
Continue Reading EPA Releases Another Compliance Advisory on Pesticide Devices Due to “Substantial Non-Compliance” with FIFRA Requirements

The FTC has announced the next step in its ongoing review of the “Green Guides.” According to the FTC’s most recent announcement, it is zeroing-in on “recyclable” claims and will be hosting a workshop titled “Talking Trash at the FTC: Recyclable Claims and the Green Guides.”
Continue Reading FTC is “Talking Trash” and Zeroing-in on “Recyclable” Claims

The Maine Department of Environmental Protection recently released a long anticipated proposed rule that would implement the procedures for Maine’s 2021 law requiring manufacturers to submit notifications to DEP for products and product components containing intentionally added per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances sold in the state.
Continue Reading Maine Department of Environmental Protection Releases Proposed Rule Implementing the Procedures for Maine’s Reporting Requirements and Prohibitions for Products Containing PFAS