Chemical Fee Exemption Process Explained

The Chemical Fee Exemption Request process was implemented in CHS Manager on 10/27/2022. 

Chemical Fee Exemptions (CFEs) are exemptions that a Chemical may have that would remove the Fee associated with the Chemical. Some Fee Exempt Chemicals are marked exempt by the System automatically, a couple of examples are: Gasolines and some Petroleum based products. These types of Fee Exempt Chemicals require no action by the Facility and no approval by the Community Right to Know (CR2K) Staff.

All other CFEs must be requested by the Facility, and go through an Approval process. The CFE Request process can be found here: Chemical Fee Exemption Request.

In addition to a Facility generated CFE Request there is also a System process in place for a Chemical that has been reported Below Reportable Quantity (Below RQ). When a Chemical is reported Below RQ the System will generate a CFE Request for CR2K Approval. If a previously reported Below RQ Chemical has been edited to now be Above Reportable Quantity (Above RQ), this will also generate a System generated CFE Request to CR2K for Approval.  

CR2K is also conducting a review process of all previously selected CFE's. During the review process Facilities may receive a CFE Submitted and Reviewed email stating a CFE is Not Approved. 

Below is the work flow for a Facility initiated CFE Request and a System generated CFE Request:

1. The Reported is Submitted that contains a CFE Request, either Facility initiated or System initiated
2. An email is generated to the Submitting User and the Regulatory Point of Contact that the CFE is in Submitted status
3. CR2K Staff processes the CFE Request and makes determination of Approved/Not Approved
4. An email is generated to the Submitting User and the Regulatory Point of Contact that the CFE is in Reviewed status and will have the notes containing determination
5. A new invoice will be generated based off of the determination of the CFE Request. This invoice is available in the View/Print Report feature in CHS Manager for the Report in question 

Please review every Chemical submitted when entering a new report, to verify all the information has been entered correctly and if any old CFE's have been brought over from the previous report that may need to be removed or added.

If you have additional questions, please submit a Help Desk ticket or call the Hazardous Substance Information Hotline [phone] or 800-454-6125.