Cancellation of Pesticides for Non-Payment of Year 2000 Registration Maintenance Fees

AGENCY:

Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION:

Notice.

SUMMARY:

Since the amendments of October 1988, the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA) has required payment of an annual maintenance fee to keep pesticide registrations in effect. The fee due last January 15 has gone unpaid for about 984 registrations. Section 4(i)(5)(G) of FIFRA provides that the Administrator may cancel these registrations by order and without a hearing; orders to cancel all 984 of these registrations have been issued within the past few days.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

For further information on the maintenance fee program in general, contact by mail: John Jamula, Office of Pesticide Programs (H7504C), Environmental Protection Agency, 1200 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20460. Office location, telephone number and e-mail address: Rm.226, Crystal Mall No. 2, 1921 Jefferson Davis Highway South, Arlington, VA 22202, (703) 305-6426; e-mail: jamula.john@epa.gov.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. General Information

A. Does this apply to me?

You may be potentially affected by this notice if you are an EPA registrant with any approved product registration(s). Although this action may be of particular interest to persons who produce or use pesticides, the Agency has not attempted to describe all the specific entities that may be affected by this action. If you have any questions regarding the information in this notice, consult the person listed under FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT.

B. How can I get additional information or copies of support documents:

1. Electronically. You may obtain electronic copies of this document, and certain other related documents that might be available electronically, from the EPA Internet Home page at http://www.epa.gov/. To access this document, on the Home Page select “Laws and Regulations,” “Regulations and Proposed Rules,” and then look up the entry for this document under the “Federal Register— Environmental Documents.” You can go directly to the Federal Register listings at http://www.epa.gov/fedrgstr/.

2. In person. The official record for this notice, as well as the public version, has been established under docket control number OPP-64049, (including comments and data submitted electronically as described below). A public version of this record, including printed, paper versions of any electronic comments, which does not include any information claimed as CBI, is available for inspection in Rm. 119, Crystal Mall #2, 1921 Jefferson Davis Highway, Arlington, VA, from 8:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., Monday through Friday, excluding legal holidays.

II. Introduction

Section 4(i)(5) of FIFRA as amended in October 1988, December 1991, and again in August 1996, requires that all pesticide registrants pay an annual registration maintenance fee, due by January 15 of each year, to keep their registrations in effect. This requirement applies to all registrations granted under section 3 as well as those granted under section 24(c) to meet special local needs. Registrations for which the fee is not paid are subject to cancellation by order and without a hearing.

The 1990 Farm Bill amended FIFRA to allow the Administrator to reduce or waive maintenance fees for minor agricultural use pesticides when she determines that the fee would be likely to cause significant impact on the availability of the pesticide for the use. The Agency has waived the fee for 126 minor agricultural use registrations at the request of the registrants.

In late November 1999, all holders of either section 3 registrations or section 24(c) registrations were sent lists of their active registrations, along with forms and instructions for responding. The registrants were asked to identify which of their registrations they wished to maintain in effect, and to calculate and remit the appropriate maintenance fees. Most responses were received by the statutory deadline of January 15. A notice of intent to cancel was sent in mid-February to companies who did not respond and to companies who responded, but paid for less than all of their registrations.

Since mailing the notices, EPA has maintained a toll-free inquiry number through which the questions of affected registrants have been answered.

Maintenance fees have been paid for about 15,932 section 3 registrations, or about 93 percent of the registrations on file in November. Fees have been paid for about 2,539 section 24(c) registrations, or about 88 percent of the total on file in November. Cancellations for nonpayment of the maintenance fee affect about 695 section 3 registrations and about 287 section 24(c) registrations.

The cancellation orders generally permit registrants to continue to sell and distribute existing stocks of the canceled products until the due date for the next annual registration maintenance fee, January 15, 2001. Existing stocks already in the hands of dealers or users, however, can generally be distributed, sold or used legally until they are exhausted. Existing stocks are defined as those stocks of a registered pesticide product which are currently in the U.S. and which have been packaged, labeled and released for shipment prior to the effective date of the action.

The exceptions to these general rules are cases where more stringent restrictions on sale, distribution, or use of the products have already been imposed, through Special Reviews or other Agency actions. These general provisions for disposition of stocks should serve in most cases to cushion the impact of these cancellations while the market adjusts.

III. Listing of Registrations Canceled for Non-Payment

Table 1 lists all of the section 24(c) registrations.

Table 2 lists all of the section 3 registrations which were canceled for non-payment of the 2000 maintenance fee. These registrations have been canceled by order and without hearing. Cancellation orders were sent to affected registrants via certified mail in the past several days. It is the Agency policy to rescind cancellation of any particular registration only if the cancellation resulted from the Agency error.

IV. Public Docket

Complete lists of registrations canceled for non-payment of the maintenance fee will also be available for reference during normal business hours in the OPP Public Docket, Rm. 119, Crystal Mall 2, 1921 Jefferson Davis Highway South, Arlington VA, and at each EPA Regional Office. Product-specific status inquiries may be made by telephone by calling toll-free 1-800-444-7255.

List of Subjects

• Environmental protection
• Agricultural commodities
• Pesticides and pests