QUARTERLY REPORT Spring 2024
OPEI TACKLES CHEMICAL POLICY OPEI committees are overseeing an active agenda of legisla- tive and regulatory proposals at all levels of government fo- cused on products’ chemical content. These include banned use, reporting of use, and labeling of use for chemicals listed to be hazardous or of concern. This area of policymaking is also largely stratified by those intended to address the safe use of products and those intended to address safe product disposal under the guise of extended producer responsibility. In December, OPEI joined an amicus brief before the Fed- eral 5th circuit court of appeals supporting Inhance (an OPEI member) in litigation with EPA, in which the agency threat- ened to close down the company’s fluorination of industry fuel tanks over PFAS concerns. In late March the court ruled in Inhance’s favor. In early March OPEI filed comments with both Maine and Minnesota identifying “currently unavoidable uses” of PFAS in outdoor power equipment. These two states are leading among numerous other states expected to follow suit in regu- lating the use of these substances. At the federal level, OPEI members that import products into the U.S. may be required to report known uses of PFAS in such products during the last decade. Reporting obligations under the EPA’s “PFAS Reporting Rule” begin this year, and OPEI has been working with members and allied industries on compliance guidance. And in January OPEI filed comments with California in response to the state’s latest effort to revise the warning re- quirements under Proposition 65, in this case revamping the “short form” warnings utilized by many members, to require that they newly include the name of the chemical for which the warning is provided. ANSI APPROVES OPEI MOWER STANDARDS OPEI has received ANSI approval for recognition as American National Standards of its recently proposed adoption of the ISO 5395 series standards for lawn mowers and its proposed reaffirmation of the B175.4-2018 standard for cut-off ma- chines. The ANSI/OPEI 5395-2024 adoptions are expected to be published later this spring. ANSI/OPEI B175.4-2018 (R2024) has been published and is available for purchase at the ANSI online bookstore. Complementary copies of published ANSI/ OPEI standards are available to members by request or via the OPEI member portal at www.opei.org .
OPEI’S MARTIN ADDRESS INTERNATIONAL BATTERY SEMINAR ATTENDEES Brandon Martin, OPEI’s Vice President, Battery Products & In- dustry Affairs, recently moderat- ed “Battery Power for Consumer Electronics” and presented on OPE electrification trends at the International Battery Seminar hosted in Orlando, FL. Alternative power sources within the OPE sector have
grown exponentially since 2010 due to an array of market influences, including technology enhancements, consumer behavior, and product incentives. As the battery industry ramps up for continued EV adop- tion, OPEI highlighted how the OPE landscape has trans- formed and how the industry will continue to demand all power source options moving forward. The overall event highlighted new battery developments, advances in materi- als, and manufacturing scalability in new technologies. Safety remains a cornerstone theme and OPEI is commit- ted to advance safety through industry standards and its advocacy efforts. For more information on battery safety, please visit www.opei.org/battery-basics . STANDARDS STAKEHOLDERS SOUGHT The Outdoor Power Equipment Institute is seeking stakehold- ers o participate in the consensus body review for proposed actions related to the OPEI chain saw, hedge trimmer, log splitter, and tiller standards. Stakeholder categories for these standards include OEM Producer, Supplier Producer, Consumer User, Retailer, Testing Organization, Government Agency, and General Interest. For information on how to participate in the chain saw and/ or hedge trimmer standard development activities please contact Greg Knott, Senior Vice President, Standards and Regulatory Affairs, at gknott@opei.org. For information on how to participate in the log splitter and/ or tiller standard development activities please contact Dan Mustico, Senior Vice President of Government and Market Affairs, at dmustico@opei.org.
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