Insights

Washington, D.C. – January 13, 2015: Crowell & Moring LLP is pleased to announce the publication of its third annual "Litigation Forecast: What Corporate Counsel Need to Know in the Coming Year," and the introduction of its first-ever "Regulatory Forecast 2015: What Corporate Counsel Need to Know in the Coming Year."

Washington, D.C. – October 5, 2011: Crowell & Moring LLP is pleased to invite members of the media and industry to attend its one-day seminar, “Product Risk Management: A Product Lifecycle Approach to Identifying, Mitigating and Managing Legal Risks,” on October 19, 2011, from 8:45 a.m. – 4:45 p.m. at the firm’s offices in Washington, D.C. As regulatory compliance and enforcement risks for industry have increased, this one-day event for manufacturers and suppliers will feature insights from business executives, in-house counsel, and Washington agency officials.

Washington, D.C. – November 1, 2010: Crowell & Moring LLP's Environment & Natural Resources Group has gained senior counsel David E. Menotti and partner Warren U. Lehrenbaum to bolster its practice in  air, pesticides, and chemical regulation. Based in the firm's Washington, D.C. office, the new attorneys bring a wealth of experience representing agribusiness, biotechnology, and manufacturing companies in the wide range of regulatory counseling and litigation needs that arise under the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (USDA-APHIS).

On August 6, 2024, the Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) took the rare action of announcing the emergency suspension of all registrations for pesticide products containing the active ingredient dimethyl tetrachloroterephthalate (“DCPA” or “Dacthal”) under the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (“FIFRA”). This is the first time in almost 40 years that EPA has issued an emergency suspension order.[1] EPA’s reasoning for the present action is that DCPA can cause adverse health effects in the fetuses of women exposed to DCPA.

A wave of recent changes in federal and state law pertaining to PFAS chemicals is likely to present both immediate and long-term challenges to the government contracting community. At the federal level, contractors that import products, parts, packaging, equipment or other articles with components that contain PFAS must confront new and extensive regulatory reporting requirements relating to such imports going back to 2011, and they must do so by May 2025. At the state level, a growing list of states are enacting total bans on the sale and distribution of such products and components. On top of this flurry of environmental regulatory activity, the Biden Administration continues to direct federal agencies to develop procurement strategies that prioritize the purchase of PFAS-free articles as part the Administration’s broader effort to leverage the federal procurement function in pursuit of climate and sustainability policy objectives.

Recent changes in federal and state law pertaining to PFAS chemicals will have profound impacts on clean energy companies in the U.S.  At the federal level, companies that import equipment or other articles with components that contain PFAS will have to comply with extensive reporting requirements.  At the state level, companies will face total bans on the sale and distribution of such products and components.

The Household and Commercial Products Association’s (HCPA’s) Pesticide Regulation Workshop, organized, hosted, and co-presented by Crowell, is the oldest and largest annual event dedicated to pesticide regulation, compliance, and enforcement under federal and state pesticide laws. This year’s workshop will feature guest speakers from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Office of Pesticide Programs and Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance and from the Natural Resources Defense Council. This year’s workshop will focus on practical information, including what companies need to know in order to get their pesticide products onto the market, keep them there, and avoid business disruptions and penalties. Knowledgeable and experienced presenters will cover the following topics:

Please join Crowell & Moring LLP on Thursday, April 7, 2022 at The Umstead Hotel in Cary, North Carolina for a one-day workshop on pesticide data compensation and protection under the laws of the United States, Canada, and the European Union. 

Please join us for an overview of the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA), including the significant changes made by the Lautenberg Chemical Safety Act (LCSA), which amended TSCA on June 22, 2016.

A failure to meet safety compliance and regulatory obligations can undo the herculean efforts to surmount supply chain challenges and get products into the US. Our Products Liability and Regulatory Compliance lawyers will discuss the impacts of current efforts by regulators to police product safety at the ports, the expectations of federal safety regulators at the ports and how to use compliance documentation to speed the process when products have been stopped for inspection. Our discussion will cover activities at CPSC, NHTSA, EPA and FDA. The panel will also discuss the challenge of counterfeit products and parts and how safety can be a lever to stop counterfeits. Given the increased costs of shipping, downstream recovery opportunities may help alleviate some of the monetary pressures and our panel will discuss these opportunities as well as the contract clauses that can allocate risks appropriately when things do go wrong.

On June 22, 2016, President Barack Obama signed into law the Frank R. Lautenberg Chemical Safety for the 21st Century Act. The AAFA-supported legislation, an update of the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA), establishes a new national chemical management standard that significantly alters how chemicals are regulated in the U.S.