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Restrictions on the Sale of Certain Mercury-Added Products
Certain mercury-added products are banned from sale in the State
of Vermont as outlined in Vermont legislation 10
V.S.A. §7105 passed on July 1, 2005. There are basically
two groups of bans on products with various effective dates from
which a product must not be sold into the State of Vermont. The
first groups of products are specifically banned and cannot be legally
sold in the state for any reason. The second groups of products
are banned from sale as of specific dates, but the manufacturer
can apply for an exemption to the ban. The following is a list of
products and effective dates after which they may not be sold:
PRODUCTS BANNED FROM SALE
Dairy Manometers are banned from Sale in Vermont Effective January
1, 2006.
Products Banned from Sale in Vermont Effective July
1, 2006:
- Novelties (excludes products containing button cell batteries
or mercury added lamps);
- Fever Thermometers (excludes thermometers with button cell batteries);
- Thermostats (mercury-added); and
- Elemental mercury
Except when used for medical, manufacturing or research purposes.
Use is not banned for these purposes, but the manufacturer or
distributor must:
- Provide purchaser with MSDS sheet
- Obtain signature on a statement (Certification
Statement for the Sale or Distribution of Elemental Mercury
form) from the purchaser that:
- Use of the mercury is for medical, manufacturing, or research
purposes
- Understands mercury is toxic and will store and use it appropriately
- Will not dispose of mercury in solid waste or wastewater
- A copy of this form must be sent to the Vermont Department
of Environmental Conservation for your file in order to legally
sell the product in the state. Send to:
Vermont Department of Environmental Conservation
103 South Main Street
Waterbury, Vermont 05671-4911
Attn: Karen Knaebel
PRODUCTS BANNED FROM SALE (unless exemption approved)
Products Banned from Sale in Vermont Effective January
1, 2007 (unless an exemption is approved) include:
- Barometers, esophageal dilators, bougie tubes, gastrointestinal
tubes, flow meters, hydrometers, hygrometers or psychrometers,
manometers other than dairy, pyrometers sphygmomanometers, thermometers
other than fever thermometers, mercury-added neon type signs or
lamps; and
- Mercury switches, and mercury relays (and products that contain
these components).
- Exempt if the only mercury-containing component is a button
cell battery.
- Exclusion for replacement parts for existing equipment if larger
product is in use prior to January 1, 2007.
Exemption process:
- Applications for exemptions should be submitted as an original
to the Vermont Department of Environmental Conservation and a
copy send to IMERC.
- A manufacturer, manufacturer's agent, or an agent (who may be
a user of a product) may apply for an exemption.
- The exemption will be processed through a multi-state review
conducted by IMERC.
- Vermont will advise the manufacturer of either approval or denial
of the request.
- The application for the exemption may be obtained on the IMERC
webpage at: http://www.newmoa.org/prevention/mercury/imerc/phaseoutforms.cfm
- Deadline for submitting applications for exemption is March
1, 2006; however, Vermont will be accepting applications submitted
(and must be approved) prior to January 1, 2007.
- If a manufacturer has not applied for an exemption through the
IMERC process and has not received exemption approval prior to
January 1, 2007, the mercury-added products are banned from sale
in the State of Vermont after January 1, 2007.
- If a manufacturer or their agent has already received approval
from another state on any exemption request that has handled through
the IMERC exemption review process, a copy of the approval documentation
from another IMERC member state should be forwarded to the Vermont
Department of Environmental Conservation with a request that this
information also be considered for an exemption in Vermont. Upon
receipt, this exemption request will be reviewed and approval
will be considered in Vermont for the same duration. The Department
will send a letter to the manufacturer to advise if the request
has been approved for the same duration, or denied.
MERCURY-ADDED REPLACEMENT PARTS
If a mercury-added product manufacturer has a customer in the State
of Vermont who needs to purchase a replacement part that is a switch,
relay or measuring device which is used to replace the same component
in a larger piece of equipment that was in use prior to January
1, 2007, a manufacturer can sell the replacement part
to the Vermont consumer provided the owner of the equipment has
made every reasonable effort to determine that no compatible non-mercury
replacement component exists. Under Vermont's law, this does not
apply as a blanket exemption for all products to be sold as replacement
parts, but is an exception to the ban based specifically on
the needs of individual customers. A manufacturer may wish to
require their customer to obtain written approval from the Department
in order to confirm the date that the equipment was placed in use
and identify their efforts to locate a non-mercury replacement part,
to verify the legal sale of the mercury-added replacement part in
the State of Vermont.
Other states require that documentation be provided in order to
provide an "exemption" from this provision to sell the
replacement parts for existing equipment. For information, contact
IMERC at (617) 367-8558 or e-mail at tgoldberg@newmoa.org.
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