(1)(a) Producers of covered products distributed, imported, sold, or offered for sale in or into Washington state must annually register using the department's registration and reporting system.

(b) Third-party representatives may submit data on behalf of a producer or group of producers, including information required in subsection (2) of this section for each producer, but the producer as defined in WAC 173-925-030(23) is the party responsible for compliance and subject to potential enforcement actions outlined in WAC 173-925-080 through 173-925-100.

(c) De minimis producers are not required to meet annual registration, reporting, PCRC, or fee requirements of covered products, but must annually indicate their de minimis status in the department's online registration and reporting system to notify the department that they meet the de minimis threshold.

(d) If a producer's supplier or distributor entities have agreed to report on behalf of a producer for a subset of the products that would otherwise be attributable to the producer, the category is only considered de minimis if it still meets minimum resin weight or revenue threshold after being added to other product category data provided by the person as defined in WAC 173-925-030(15).

(2) Producers must annually submit the following registration information to the department:

(a) General information, including:

(i) Producer name, mailing address, website, and tax identification number;

(ii) Contact person name, email, and telephone number; and

(iii) List of all brand and sub-brand names under which the covered products are sold, and, if applicable, any unique tax identification numbers not provided in (a)(i) of this subsection.

(b) Plastic resin data for each covered product category in WAC 173-925-060(1) sold or offered for sale in or into Washington state in the prior calendar year, including total pounds of virgin resin (by resin type) and total pounds of PCRC (by resin type) in each covered product category.

(c) Identification and resin weight of PCRC products temporarily excluded from PCRC minimum requirements based on criteria in WAC 173-925-070(1).

(d) Attestation that all reported data accounts for all covered products sold in or into Washington and confirms that the percentage of PCRC calculated for PCRC products sold in Washington is accurately allocated in accordance with subsection (3) of this section.

(3)(a) Producers or representatives reporting on behalf of producers may use national or regional covered product resin data for reporting in subsection (2) of this section. The data must be allocated to Washington on a per capita or other accurate basis for calculation, and the producer or reporting representative must demonstrate that the percentage of PCRC for the product category sold into Washington is the same as the PCRC percentage calculated for the nation or region.

(b) Producers submitting information based on regional or national data in place of Washington state data must account for all products in its calculations and must provide the following to the department:

(i) Justification for using national or regional data instead of state level data; and

(ii) Documentation of the methodology and source data used to prorate the regional or national data.

(4)(a) Producers must annually report PCRC percentages for PCRC products in addition to the covered product registration requirements in subsection (2) of this section, beginning on the following dates:

(i) April 1, 2024, for plastic trash bags and plastic beverage containers other than plastic dairy milk containers and 187 milliliter plastic wine containers; and

(ii) April 1, 2026, for plastic household cleaner and personal care product containers; and

(iii) April 1, 2029, for plastic dairy milk containers and 187 milliliter plastic wine containers.

(b) PCRC annual reports must include:

(i) The amount in pounds of virgin plastic and the amount in pounds of PCRC by resin type used within a single PCRC product category sold, offered for sale, or distributed in or into Washington state; and

(ii) The total PCRC resin as a percentage of the total weight of plastic reported for a single covered product category.

(5) For PCRC annual reports, producers must certify that the PCRC percentages for PCRC products sold, offered for sale, or distributed in or into Washington state comply with the requirements of this chapter. The PCRC certification may include one or both of the following:

(a) Independent third-party certification: Submit to the department the certification from a qualified International Organization for Standardization (ISO) accredited, or other qualified accrediting body subject to department review, with the results of the PCRC analysis for each category of PCRC products; or

(b) Self-certification: Submit to the department attestation that the information reported by the responsible official is true and accurate to the best knowledge of the producer.

(6)(a) If a producer or third-party representative believes the information provided to the department as required by this chapter is confidential business information (CBI), in whole or in part, they may request that the department treat the information as CBI as provided in RCW 43.21A.160.

(b) The director of the department shall consider requests to treat registration and reporting information as CBI.

(c) A decision by the director of the department to grant protection of CBI will be based upon information provided by the producer sufficient to demonstrate that the release of the information to the public or a competitor may affect adversely the competitive position of the producer.

(d) A decision by the director of the department to grant protection of CBI shall remain effective until a producer is otherwise notified or until additional information is requested by the department.

(7)(a) Registration and reporting as required by the PCRC product category timeline established in subsection (3)(a) of this section is considered delinquent if not completed by April 1st of each calendar year.

(b) Failure to meet the registration and reporting timeline requirements is cause for a notice of noncompliance per WAC 173-925-080 through 173-925-100.