Michael Boucher
FAX: 202.496.7756
Experience
Michael Boucher provides regulatory compliance and litigation services to Global 500 companies in the areas of international chemical and consumer product safety and regulation; environmental inspections, enforcement, and self-auditing; hazardous materials and chemicals of concern; worker safety; international environmental issues; environmental advertising, claims, and labeling; pre- and post-acquisition environmental due diligence; federal agency rulemaking and litigation; and task force formation and administration.
Mr. Boucher’s environmental counseling and litigation practice focuses on the international regulation and sale of chemical and pesticide products, including agricultural and antimicrobial pesticides; industrial and consumer chemicals; products of “green chemistry,” nanotechnology, and biotechnology; precursor and dual-use chemicals; and chemicals and pesticides controlled under international agreements on prior informed consent (PIC), persistent organic pollutants (POPs), and chemical weapons.
Mr. Boucher represents companies in U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (U.S. EPA) inspections and enforcement actions under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA), the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA), and the Emergency Planning and Community Right to Know Act (EPCRA) and conducts compliance auditing under U.S. EPA’s Audit Policy. He provides counsel on human testing, R&D, endangered species, data protection, and task force issues.
Mr. Boucher also advises consumer product manufacturers and retailers about consumer product safety standards, packaging and labeling requirements, regulation of advertising and claims, consumer warranties, user manuals, substantial product hazard reporting, product take-back and recycling, and voluntary and mandatory product recalls under laws administered by the Consumer Product Safety Commission, the Federal Trade Commission, and the U.S. states.
Mr. Boucher participated in one of only two pesticide review boards ever convened under the Pest Control Products Act (PCPA) in Canada and advises U.S. companies on the assessment of high-priority, potentially toxic substances under Canada’s Chemical Management Plan.
Notable Engagements
- Managing all legal aspects of a 60-facility, multi-media environmental compliance systems audit in the U.S.R.
- Representing several companies in U.S. EPA and U.S. state environmental inspections, enforcement actions, and self-audits.
- Leading the legal defense of three widely used silicones undergoing environmental, health, and safety assessment in Canada under Canada's Chemical Management Plan.
- Counseling several companies about requirements for marketing chemical and consumer products in jurisdictions around the world.
- Advising several manufacturers and retailers regarding consumer product labeling, safety, and testing issues, including regulatory compliance issues affecting ongoing product liability litigation.
- Advising two major chemical industry trade associations with respect to industry policy and federal legislation and rulemaking.
- Represented a U.S. company in one of only two pest control product review boards ever convened in Canada.
- Provided pre- and post-acquisition environmental due diligence in half a dozen large mergers and acquisitions in the agricultural and industrial chemical industries.
- Prepared and filed several petitions challenging U.S. EPA rulemakings.
Education
- J.D., Olin Prize in Law and Economics, Georgetown University Law Center, 1993
- A.B., magna cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa, Georgetown University, 1987
Admitted
- District of Columbia
- New York
- U.S. Supreme Court
Publications:
- Pesticide Regulation Handbook, 4th Edition, McKenna Long & Aldridge LLP, (2007), co-editor and co-author.
- The TSCA Handbook, 4th Edition, Government Institutes, (2006), co-author.
- "China's Regulation of Agricultural Biotechnology," Metropolitan Corporate Counsel, (December 2006), co-authored with John Connor, Jr. and Jeffrey Li.
Seminars and Presentations:
- "Summary of Microbial Commercial Activity Notice Requirements under TSCA," Chemical Notification World Summit 2009, (September 15, 2009), Arlington, Virginia.
- "Chemical Management Update: USA, Canada, and California," Chemical Daily Co., Ltd.: Toward TSCA Amendment, (September 14, 2009), Tokyo, Japan.
- "Chemical Management Models: USA, Canada, and California," REACH, TSCA Reform and the Global Challenges of Chemicals Management, (June 11, 2009), Washington, DC.
- "After the Data Call-Ins: Possible Next Steps in the Regulation of Chemical Nanotechnology," Nanomaterial Data Call-ins and their Regulatory and Enforcement Implications, (April 15, 2009), Washington, DC.
- "General Certifications of Conformity," Southern Aerosol Technical Association Spring 2009 Meeting, (March 26, 2009), Atlanta, Georgia.
- "Regulation of Claims for Antimicrobial Consumer Products," IntertechPira Antimicrobials in Consumer Applications Conference, (November 17, 2008), Tampa, Florida.
Professional Activities:
- American Bar Association, Section of Environment, Energy, and Resources
- American Bar Association, Section of Administrative Law and Regulatory Practice
- District of Columbia Bar
- International Consumer Product Health and Safety Organization