§ 770.3 - Definitions.

§ 770.3 Definitions.

Cross Reference

Link to an amendment published at 88 FR 10476, Feb. 21, 2023.

For the purposes of this part, the following definitions apply:

Accreditation Body or AB means an organization that provides an impartial verification of the competency of conformity assessment bodies or TPCs.

Agent for Service means an entity designated by a TPC or AB to receive legal documents on their behalf.

Article means a manufactured item which:

(1) Is formed to a specific shape or design during manufacture;

(2) Has end use functions dependent in whole or in part upon its shape or design during the end use; and

(3) Has either no change of chemical composition during its end use or only those changes of composition which have no commercial purpose separate from that of the article and that may occur as described in 19 CFR 12.120(a)(2), except that fluids and particles are not considered articles regardless of shape or design.

Assessment means a process to include an on-site review undertaken by an AB to assess the competence of all operations of a conformity assessment body and TPC, based on particular standard(s) and/or other normative documents for a defined scope of accreditation, as defined in ISO/IEC 17011:2017(E) (incorporated by reference, see § 770.99).

Bundle means more than one composite wood product, component part, or finished good fastened together for transportation or sale.

Combination core means a platform for making hardwood plywood or laminated products that consists of a combination of layers of veneer and particleboard or medium density fiberboard.

Component part means an object other than a panel that contains one or more composite wood products and is used in the construction or assembly of finished goods. Component parts that are sold directly to consumers are considered finished goods.

Composite core means a platform for making hardwood plywood or laminated products that consists of particleboard and/or medium density fiberboard, or combination core.

Composite wood product means hardwood plywood made with a veneer or composite core, medium-density fiberboard, and particleboard.

Distributor means any person or entity to whom a composite wood product, component part, or finished good is sold or supplied for the purposes of resale or distribution in commerce, except that manufacturers and retailers are not distributors.

Engineered veneer means a type of veneer that is created by dyeing and gluing together leaves of veneer in a mold to produce a block. The block is then sliced into leaves of veneer with a designed appearance that is highly repeatable.

EPA TSCA Title VI Laboratory Accreditation Body or EPA TSCA Title VI Laboratory AB means an AB that has a recognition agreement with EPA under the EPA TSCA Title VI Third-Party Certification Program, accredits a TPC's testing laboratory or contract testing laboratory to ISO/IEC 17025:2017(E) (incorporated by reference, see § 770.99) with a scope of accreditation to include this part and the formaldehyde test methods used to comply with this part, and assesses the testing laboratory's conformance to ISO/IEC 17020:2012(E) (incorporated by reference, see § 770.99) in order to perform laboratory testing services.

EPA TSCA Title VI Product Accreditation Body or EPA TSCA Title VI Product AB means an AB that has a recognition agreement with EPA under the EPA TSCA Title VI Third-Party Certification Program, accredits a TPC to ISO/IEC 17065:2012(E) (incorporated by reference, see § 770.99) with a scope of accreditation to include composite wood products and this part, and assesses the TPC's conformance to ISO/IEC 17020:2012(E) (incorporated by reference, see § 770.99) in order to perform product certification.

EPA TSCA Title VI Third-Party Certifier or EPA TSCA Title VI TPC means a conformity assessment body that provides both product certification services and laboratory testing services (either directly or through contracted services), is accredited by an EPA TSCA Title VI Product AB and an EPA TSCA Title VI Laboratory AB (unless the laboratory testing services are contracted to a laboratory accredited by an EPA TSCA Title VI Laboratory AB), and is recognized by EPA pursuant to § 770.7(c).

Fabricator means a person or entity who incorporates composite wood products into component parts or into finished goods. This includes laminated product producers, but persons or entities in the construction trades are not fabricators by renovating or remodeling buildings.

Finished good means any good or product, other than a panel, that contains hardwood plywood (with a veneer or composite core), particleboard, or medium-density fiberboard and that is not a component part or other part used in the assembly of a finished good. Site-built buildings or other site-built real property improvements are not considered finished goods.

Hardboard means a composite panel composed of cellulosic fibers, consolidated under heat and pressure in a hot press by: A wet process; or a dry process that uses a phenolic resin, or a resin system in which there is no formaldehyde as part of the resin cross-linking structure; or a wet formed/dry pressed process; and that is commonly or commercially known, or sold, as hardboard, including any product conforming to one of the following ANSI standards: Basic Hardboard (ANSI A135.4-20124–2012) (incorporated by reference, see § 770.99), Prefinished Hardboard Paneling (ANSI A135.5-20125–2012) (incorporated by reference, see § 770.99), Engineered Wood Siding (ANSI A135.6-20126–2012) (incorporated by reference, see § 770.99), or Engineered Wood Trim (ANSI A135.7-20127–2012) (incorporated by reference, see § 770.99). There is a rebuttable presumption that products emitting more than 0.06 ppm formaldehyde as measured by ASTM E1333-14 E1333–14 (incorporated by reference, see § 770.99) or ASTM D6007-14 D6007–14 (incorporated by reference, see § 770.99) are not hardboard.

Hardwood plywood means a hardwood or decorative panel that is intended for interior use and composed of (as determined under ANSI/HPVA HP-1-2016 HP–1–2020 (incorporated by reference, see § 770.99)) an assembly of layers or plies of veneer, joined by an adhesive with a lumber core, a particleboard core, a medium-density fiberboard core, a hardboard core, a veneer core, or any other special core or special back material. Hardwood plywood does not include military-specified plywood, curved plywood, or any plywood specified in PS 1-09, Structural Plywood 1–19 (incorporated by reference, see § 770.99), or PS 2-10, Performance Standard for Wood-Based Structural-Use Panels 2–18 (incorporated by reference, see § 770.99). In addition, hardwood plywood includes laminated products except as provided at § 770.4.

Importer means any person or entity who imports composite wood products, component parts, or finished goods into the customs territory of the United States (as defined in general note 2 of the Harmonized Tariff Schedules of the United States pursuant to 15 U.S.C. 2612(a)(1)). Importer includes:

(1) The entity primarily liable for the payment of any duties on the products; or

(2) An authorized agent acting on the entity's behalf.

Intended for interior use means intended for use or storage inside a building or recreational vehicle, or constructed in such a way that it is not suitable for long-term use in a location exposed to the elements. Windows, doors, and garage doors with at least one interior-facing side are intended for interior use.

Laboratory Accreditation Body or Laboratory AB means an AB that accredits conformity assessment body testing laboratories.

Laminated product means a product in which a wood or woody grass veneer is affixed to a particleboard core or platform, a medium-density fiberboard core or platform, or a veneer core or platform. A laminated product is a component part used in the construction or assembly of a finished good. In addition, a laminated product is produced by either the fabricator of the finished good in which the product is incorporated or a fabricator who uses the laminated product in the further construction or assembly of a component part.

Laminated product producer means a manufacturing plant or other facility that manufactures (excluding facilities that solely import products) laminated products on the premises. Laminated product producers are fabricators and, beginning March 22, 2024, laminated product producers are also hardwood plywood panel producers except as provided at § 770.4.

Lot means the panels produced from the beginning of production of a product type until the first quality control test; between one quality control test and the next; or from the last quality control test to the end of production for a particular product type.

Medium-density fiberboard means a panel composed of cellulosic fibers made by dry forming and pressing a resinated fiber mat (as determined under ANSI A208.2-2016 2–2022 (incorporated by reference, see § 770.99)).

No-added formaldehyde-based resin means a resin formulated with no added formaldehyde as part of the resin crosslinking structure in a composite wood product that meets the emission standards in § 770.17(c).

Non-complying lot means any lot of composite wood product represented by a quarterly test value or quality control test result that indicates that the lot exceeds the applicable standard for the particular composite wood product in § 770.10(b). A quality control test result that exceeds the QCL is considered a test result that indicates that the lot exceeds the applicable standard. Future production of the product type(s) represented by a failed quarterly test are not considered certified and must be treated as a non-complying lot until the product type(s) are re-qualified through a successful quarterly test.

Panel means a thin (usually less than two inches thick), flat, usually rectangular piece of particleboard, medium-density fiberboard or hardwood plywood. Embossing or imparting of an irregular surface on the composite wood products by the original panel producer during pressing does not remove the product from this definition. Cutting a panel into smaller pieces, without additional fabrication, does not make the panel into a component part or finished good. This does not include items made for the purpose of research and development, provided such items are not sold, supplied, or offered for sale.

Panel producer means a manufacturing plant or other facility that manufactures (excluding facilities that solely import products) composite wood products on the premises.

Particleboard means a panel composed of cellulosic material in the form of discrete particles (as distinguished from fibers, flakes, or strands) that are pressed together with resin (as determined under ANSI A208.1-2016 1–2022 (incorporated by reference, see § 770.99)). Particleboard does not include any product specified in PS 2-10 2–18 (incorporated by reference, see § 770.99).

Phenol-formaldehyde resin means a resin that consists primarily of phenol and formaldehyde and does not contain urea-formaldehyde.

Product Accreditation Body or Product AB means an AB that accredits conformity assessment bodies who perform product certification.

Product type means a type of composite wood product, or group of composite wood products, made by the same panel producer with the same resin system that differs from another product type based on panel composition and formaldehyde emission characteristics. Grouped products must have similar formaldehyde emission characteristics and their emissions must fit the same correlation curve or linear regression.

Production line means a set of operations and physical industrial or mechanical equipment used to produce a composite wood product in one facility utilizing the same or similar equipment and quality assurance and quality control procedures.

Purchaser means any panel producer, importer, fabricator, distributor, or retailer that acquires composite wood products, component parts, or finished goods for purposes of resale in exchange for money or its equivalent.

Quality control limit or QCL means the value from the quality control method test that is the correlative equivalent to the applicable emission standard based on the ASTM E1333-14 E1333–14 method (incorporated by reference, see § 770.99) or, upon showing equivalence in accordance with § 770.20(d), the ASTM D6007-14 D6007–14 method (incorporated by reference, see § 770.99).

Reassessment means an assessment, as described in sections 7.4 to 7.13 of ISO/IEC 17011:2017(E) (incorporated by reference, see § 770.99), except that experience gained during previous assessments shall be taken into account.

Recreational vehicle means a vehicle which is:

(1) Built on a single chassis;

(2) Four hundred square feet or less when measured at the largest horizontal projections;

(3) Self-propelled or permanently towable by a light duty truck; and

(4) Designed primarily not for use as a permanent dwelling but as temporary living quarters for recreational, camping, travel, or seasonal use.

Resin system means type of resin used, including but not limited to urea-formaldehyde, soy, phenol-formaldehyde, or melamine-urea-formaldehyde.

Retailer means any person or entity that sells, offers for sale, or supplies directly to consumers composite wood products, component parts or finished goods that contain composite wood products, except that persons or entities in the construction trades are not considered retailers by selling, renovating, or remodeling buildings.

Scavenger means a chemical or chemicals that can be applied to resins or composite wood products either during or after manufacture and that react with residual or excess formaldehyde to reduce the amount of formaldehyde that can be emitted from composite wood products.

Shipping quality control limit means a quality control limit that is developed in conjunction with an EPA TSCA Title VI TPC that is based on panels prior to shipment rather than immediately after manufacturing.

Stockpiling means manufacturing or purchasing composite wood products, whether in the form of panels or incorporated into component parts or finished goods, between July 7, 2010 and June 12, 2017 at an average rate at least 20% greater than the average rate of manufacture or purchase during the 2009 calendar year for the purpose of circumventing the emission standards and other requirements of this subpart.

Surveillance On-Site Assessment means a set of on-site activities that are less comprehensive than reassessment, to monitor the continued fulfilment by accredited conformance assessment bodies of requirements for accreditation, as described in sections 7.4 to 7.13 of ISO/IEC 17011:2017(E) (incorporated by reference, see § 770.99).

Thin medium-density fiberboard means medium-density fiberboard that has a thickness less than or equal to 8 millimeters or 0.315 inches.

Third-party certifier or TPC means a conformity assessment body that provides both product certification services and laboratory testing services (either directly or through contracted services).

TPC laboratory means a laboratory or contract laboratory of an EPA TSCA Title VI TPC that is accredited by an EPA TSCA Title VI Laboratory AB to ISO/IEC 17025:2017(E) (incorporated by reference, see § 770.99), and whose inspection activities are in conformance with ISO/IEC 17020:2012(E) (incorporated by reference, see § 770.99).

Ultra low-emitting formaldehyde resin means a resin in a composite wood product that meets the emission standards in § 770.18(c).

Veneer means a sheet of wood or woody grass with a maximum thickness of 6.4 millimeters (1⁄4 inch) that is rotary cut, sliced, or sawed from a log, bolt, flitch, block, or culm; including engineered veneer.

Veneer core means a platform for making hardwood plywood or laminated products that consists of veneer.

Woody grass means a plant of the family Poaceae (formerly Gramineae) with hard lignified tissues or woody parts.

[81 FR 89724, Dec. 12, 2016, as amended at 82 FR 44537, Sept. 25, 2017; 83 FR 5345, Feb. 7, 2018; 84 FR 43524, Aug. 21, 2019; 88 FR 10476, Feb. 21, 2023]