[Congressional Bills 112th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 2031 Introduced in House (IH)]

112th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 2031

To amend the Plant Protection Act to expedite the process for approval 
       of certain biotechnology products, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                              May 26, 2011

 Mr. Fincher introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
                        Committee on Agriculture

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To amend the Plant Protection Act to expedite the process for approval 
       of certain biotechnology products, and for other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Expediting Agriculture Through 
Science Act'' or ``EATS Act''.

SEC. 2. TIMELINE FOR APPROVAL OF PETITIONS FOR REMOVAL OF PLANT PESTS 
              FROM REGULATION.

    Section 411(c) of the Plant Protection Act (7 U.S.C. 7711(c)) is 
amended--
            (1) in paragraph (2), by inserting ``, including 
        biotechnology products'' before ``from'';
            (2) by striking paragraph (3) and inserting the following 
        new paragraph:
            ``(3) Response to petition by the secretary.--
                    ``(A) In general.--In the case of a petition 
                submitted under paragraph (2), the Secretary shall 
                determine, based on sound science, whether to approve 
                such petition not later than 180 days after the date on 
                which the Secretary receives such petition. The 
                Secretary may extend the period for such determination 
                for two periods of 30 days each, if the Secretary 
                notifies the petitioner of each extension of the 
                determination period.
                    ``(B) Notification.--The notification described in 
                subparagraph (A) shall be in the form of a letter from 
                the Secretary or a designee of the Secretary and shall 
                include the name and title of each person processing 
                the petition, the specific reason for the delay in the 
                determination, and a specific date on which a 
                determination is expected.
                    ``(C) Denials.--For each petition the Secretary 
                denies, the Secretary shall provide the petitioner--
                            ``(i) written, clear, and comprehensive 
                        reasons why the petition was denied and 
                        detailed information concerning any 
                        deficiencies in the petition; and
                            ``(ii) an opportunity to remedy any such 
                        deficiencies.
                    ``(D) Deemed approved.--If the Secretary has not 
                made a determination to approve a petition by the end 
                of the 240-day period beginning on the date the 
                Secretary received such petition, the petition shall be 
                deemed approved.''.
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