A. A person may use, sell, manufacture, or distribute for use or sale, a cleaning agent that contains greater than zero percent phosphorus by weight but does not exceed 8.7 percent phosphorus by weight that is:

1. A detergent used in a commercial dishwashing machine; and

2. A substance excluded from the zero percent phosphorus limitation of this chapter by regulations adopted by the Board of Agriculture and Consumer Services which are based on a finding that compliance with this chapter would:

a. Create a significant hardship on the user; or

b. Be unreasonable because of the lack of an adequate substitute cleaning agent.

B. This chapter shall not apply to a cleaning agent that is:

1. Used in dairy, beverage, or food processing equipment;

2. A product used as an industrial sanitizer, brightener, acid cleaner or metal conditioner, including phosphoric acid products or trisodium phosphate;

3. Used in hospitals, veterinary hospitals or clinics, or health care facilities or in agricultural or dairy production or in the manufacture of health care supplies;

4. Used in a commercial laundry that provides laundry services for a hospital, health care facility or veterinary hospital;

5. Used by industry for metal cleaning or conditioning;

6. Manufactured, stored, or distributed for use or sale outside of the Commonwealth;

7. Used in any laboratory, including a biological laboratory, research facility, chemical laboratory, and engineering laboratory;

8. Used for cleaning hard surfaces, including household cleansers for windows, sinks, counters, ovens, tubs, or other food preparation surfaces and plumbing fixtures; or

9. Used as a water softening chemical, antiscale chemical, or corrosion inhibitor intended for use in closed systems, such as boilers, air conditioners, cooling towers, or hot water heating systems.

1987, cc. 66, 67; 2008, c. 10.