[Federal Register Volume 64, Number 10 (Friday, January 15, 1999)]
[Notices]
[Pages 2640-2641]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 99-1027]


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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

[OPPTS-00254; FRL-6041-6]


Development of Voluntary Consensus Standards for Environmentally 
Preferable Goods and Services

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: In association with its efforts to implement Presidential 
Executive Order 12873, ``Federal Acquisition, Recycling and Waste 
Prevention,'' and Executive Order 13101, ``Greening the Government 
Through Waste Prevention, Recycling and Federal Acquisition,'' EPA is 
interested in working with non-governmental standards developers to 
promote the development of voluntary consensus standards for 
environmentally preferable goods and services. EPA is seeking opinions 
and comments on the availability of using voluntary consensus standards 
to implement the President's Order. The purpose of this notice is to 
help EPA determine the level of interest among standards developers in 
the development of environmental attributes and associated voluntary 
standards for specific product categories. EPA is seeking comments 
about what types of markets are most suited to incorporation of 
environmentally preferable products. EPA also seeks to gather 
information on the level of activity and expertise already available 
through standard setting organizations for determining environmental 
preferability in specific product categories and comment on whether EPA 
should adopt those standards.
DATES: Comments must be postmarked by March 31, 1999.
ADDRESSES: Each comment must bear the docket control number ``OPPTS-
00254.'' All comments should be sent in triplicate to: OPPT Document 
Control Officer (7407), Office of Pollution Prevention and Toxics, 
Environmental Protection Agency, 401 M St., SW., Rm. G-099, East Tower, 
Washington, DC 20460.
    Comments and data may also be submitted electronically to: oppt. 
[email protected]. Follow the instructions under Unit II. of this 
document. No Confidential Business Information (CBI) should be 
submitted through e-mail.
    All comments which contain information claimed as CBI must be 
clearly marked as such. Three sanitized copies of any comments 
containing information claimed as CBI must also be submitted and will 
be placed in the public record for this action. Persons submitting 
information on any portion of which they believe is entitled to 
treatment as CBI by EPA must assert a business confidentiality claim in 
accordance with 40 CFR 2.203(b) for each such portion. This claim must 
be made at the time that the information is submitted to EPA. If a 
submitter does not assert a confidentiality claim at the time of 
submission, EPA will consider this as a waiver of any confidentiality 
claim and the information may be made available to the public by EPA 
without further notice to the submitter.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Lena Ferris, Pollution Prevention 
Division (7409), Office of Pollution Prevention and Toxics, 
Environmental Protection Agency, 401 M St., SW., Washington, DC 20450, 
Telephone: (202) 260-2237, or e-mail: [email protected]


[[Page 2641]]



SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Background

    EPA is seeking general comments on the issues mentioned in the 
``SUMMARY'' statement above. EPA is particularly interested in comments 
from persons who are already actively involved in voluntary standards 
development or if you are considering establishing a program for 
developing voluntary standards incorporating environmental attributes 
for products or services, please respond to the questions addressed and 
send all information, postmarked no later then March 31, 1999, to the 
docket listed under the ``ADDRESSES'' section above. All comments will 
be accepted and considered.
    To help EPA determine the level of interest among standards 
developers in the development of environmental attributes and 
associated voluntary standards for specific product categories and 
services, please provide responses to the following questions.
    1. The name, address, and contact information for the organization.
    2. Does the organization develop standards for specific business or 
industry sectors, e.g., automotive, telecommunications, etc., or does 
it develop standards in all areas?
    3. Does the organization operate under procedures set forth by the 
American National Standards Institute (ANSI) or do you have other 
written procedures that you use for standards development? If 
available, please provide a copy.
    4. Does the organization currently have, or plan to have, standards 
development activities focusing on, or specifically integrating, 
environmental attributes as part of the scope of the standard(s)?
    5. Does the organization do product certification?
    6. Does the organization typically engage in product attribute 
development as well as standards development? If so, what kinds of 
products are generally involved?
    7. Do members of government departments or agencies participate in 
your standards development activities? If so, are there any members 
from regulatory agencies or departments?
    8. Has the organization done any assessment of the market needs for 
environmentally preferable products? If so, and the information is 
available, what is your assessment of product categories and/or market 
sectors where the interest is likely to be high for environmentally 
related standards?

II. Public Record and Electronic Submissions

    The official record for this action, as well as the public version, 
has been established for this action under docket control number 
``OPPTS-00254 '' (including comments and data submitted electronically 
as described below). A public version of this record, including 
printed, paper versions of electronic comments, which does not include 
any information claimed as CBI, is available for inspection from 12 
noon to 4 p.m., Monday through Friday, excluding legal holidays. The 
official record is located in the TSCA Nonconfidential Information 
Center, Rm. NE-B607, 401 M St., SW., Washington, DC.
    Electronic comments can be sent directly to EPA at:
    [email protected]


    Electronic comments must be submitted as an ASCII file avoiding the 
use of special characters and any form of encryption. Comments and data 
will also be accepted on disks in WordPerfect 5.1/6.1 or ASCII file 
format. All comments and data in electronic form must be identified by 
the docket control number ``OPPTS-00254.'' Electronic comments on this 
action may be filed online at many Federal Depository Libraries.

List of Subjects

    Environmental protection.
    Dated: December 23, 1998.
William H. Sanders, III

Director, Office of Pollution Prevention and Toxics.

[FR Doc. 99-1027 Filed 1-14-99; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6560-50-F