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.