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New EPA Assistance Center Helps Importers/Exporters Comply with Environmental Laws

Release Date: 11/29/2006
Contact Information: Dave Ryan, (202) 564-4355 / ryan.dave@epa.gov

(11/29/06) Anyone involved in shipping regulated materials across borders can go to a new web-based EPA-sponsored Compliance Assistance Center for help in complying with environmental laws. The border center's new chemical import-export issues Web site provides information for importing and exporting a variety of chemicals, including toxic substances and hazardous waste. The site also has information on existing international agreements and regulations, and includes a news section to keep buyers, sellers, and transporters aware of the latest developments.

The Web site, maintained by an EPA grantee called The National Center for Manufacturing Sciences (NCMS), is one of the 14 EPA-sponsored centers. Each center explains real world environmental compliance issues relevant to a specific industry sector or issue. The centers deliver information in plain language, with an emphasis on what the regulated community needs to know to get in and stay in compliance. Existing centers address: agriculture, auto repair and auto recycling, chemicals, federal facilities, health care, local government, metal finishing, paints and coatings, printed wiring board, printing, and transportation.

The centers are celebrating 10 years of helping regulated facilities, particularly small businesses and local governments, understand and meet environmental regulations. In a decade, the number of centers has grown from three to 14, and together they attract more than one million visitors a year. In a recent centers' survey, 78 percent of regulated businesses and governments said they had improved their environmental management practices as a result of using the critical information provided by the centers.

The border center's new chemical import-export issues Web site: http://www.bordercenter.org/chem/index.cfm

The National Compliance Assistance Centers Web site: http://www.assistancecenters.net/