WATCH OUT: LONGSTANDING CHEMICAL REGULATIONS CAN AFFECT YOUR HIGH-TECH BUSINESS
Cyber security. Artificial intelligence (AI). The EU’s General Data Protection Regulation. Blockchain and bitcoin and myriad others, the 21st century has birthed whole new industries – and headaches – based on rapidly evolving technologies. CEOs and other C-level executives need to stay on top of these developments to capitalise on their benefits. Just as important, business leaders must anticipate how these technologies, and their regulation, may threaten the continued vitality of their operations.
In evaluating and responding to these high-tech potential business threats, it is easy to forget that ‘old school’ regulations affecting the nuts and bolts of manufacturing operations can pose risks to a swath of businesses. Such regulations, if not complied with, can have severely adverse effects on manufacturing supply chains. Those effects, in turn, can hit downstream business operations in unexpected ways, even for industries not directly involved in manufacturing operations but whose technologies ultimately depend on manufactured items like semiconductor devices, computer servers, and so forth. It would behove CEOs and other C-level executives, even in non-manufacturing industries, to understand, and guard against, such potentially devastating impacts on their businesses.
The federal Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) is a case in point. First enacted more than 40 years ago, this chemical regulation law is administered and enforced by the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). It imposes numerous requirements on manufacturers, including importers, as well as processors, distributors and users of chemical substances.
Oct-Dec 2018 Issue
Grimaldi Law Offices