(a) A PRO shall register in the department’s Recycling and Disposal Reporting System, or an alternative reporting system established by the department, and annually submit to the system all of the following information on behalf of each producer who participates in the PRO’s approved plan:

(1) The aggregate quantities in total weight and the number of plastic components of covered material, by covered material category and by type of plastic component, manufactured, sold, distributed, or imported in or into the state, as the department deems necessary to determine compliance with this chapter in a form, manner, and frequency determined by the department pursuant to paragraph (2) of subdivision (a) of Section 42060.

(2) The aggregate quantities in total weight and number of plastic components, of covered material by covered material category recycled as the department deems necessary to determine compliance with this chapter in a form and manner determined by the department pursuant to paragraph (2) of subdivision (a) of Section 42060.

(3) For covered material not collected through a curbside collection program, the PRO shall collect, validate, and submit to the system data demonstrating take-back and dropoff and alternative collection and recycling program performance, including the amount and type of covered materials collected.

(4) Any additional information deemed necessary by the department to collect and report data pursuant to subdivision (a) of Section 42060.

(b) A PRO shall not require a producer who is a participant of the PRO’s approved plan to report to the PRO covered materials that the producer is required to report pursuant to another PRO’s plan or to another department-authorized stewardship organization’s plan, or that the producer directly reports to the department.

(c) A producer or PRO shall respond within 14 calendar days to a request by the department for additional data. The department may grant additional time for responding that shall not exceed 60 calendar days. To determine if an extension of time is warranted, the department shall take into account, at a minimum, all of the following considerations:

(1) The amount of data requested.

(2) Whether the producer or PRO has the data readily available.

(3) Whether the data is necessary to ensure compliance with Section 42050.

(4) Whether the producer or PRO needs to obtain the data from a third party.

(5) The producer’s or PRO’s timely compliance with any previous data requests.

(d) A producer or PRO shall maintain records of covered materials offered for sale, sold, distributed, or imported in or into the state in a form and manner established by the department that the department determines is necessary to determine if a producer is in compliance with this chapter during an audit.

(e) Data provided by producers and collected under this section shall only be used by the PRO for the purposes of this chapter. The PRO shall consider all information provided to it by producers in compliance with this chapter to be confidential and shall not disclose the information to other producers or the public or allow the use of the information for commercial purposes. This section does not prohibit the PRO from providing data requested by the department or from releasing aggregated data that does not identify data in connection with a specific responsible entity.

(f) A PRO shall provide contact information for any of the PRO’s registered participants to the department upon request.

(Amended (as added by Stats. 2022, Ch. 75, Sec. 2) by Stats. 2022, Ch. 574, Sec. 26. (AB 211) Effective September 27, 2022.)