[Federal Register Volume 64, Number 114 (Tuesday, June 15, 1999)]
[Notices]
[Pages 32044-32045]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 99-15171]


-----------------------------------------------------------------------

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

[FRL-6359-5]


Agency Information Collection Activities; Foreign Purchaser 
Acknowledgment Statement of Unregistered Pesticides; Submission of ICR 
No. 0161.08 to OMB for Review and Approval; Request for Comment

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Notice of submission to OMB; request for comment.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

SUMMARY: In compliance with the Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA) (44 
U.S.C. 3501 et seq.), this document announces that the following 
Information Collection Request (ICR) entitled: ``Foreign Purchaser 
Acknowledgment Statement of Unregistered Pesticides'' (EPA No. 0161.08, 
OMB No. 2070-0027) has been forwarded to the Office of Management and 
Budget (OMB) for review and approval pursuant to the OMB procedures in 
5 CFR 1320.12. This ICR, which is abstracted below, describes the 
nature of the information collection and its estimated cost and burden. 
The Agency is requesting that OMB renew for 3 years the existing 
approval for this ICR, which is scheduled to expire on June 30, 1999. 
Before submitting this ICR to OMB, EPA issued a Federal Register 
document announcing the Agency's intent to seek OMB approval for this 
ICR and providing a 60-day public comment opportunity (64 FR 3083, 
January 20, 1999). EPA did not receive any comments on this ICR during 
the comment period.

DATES: Additional comments, identified by ICR numbers EPA No. 0161.08 
and OMB No. 2070-0027, must be received on or before July 15, 1999.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Sandy Farmer at EPA by phone on (202) 
260-2740, by e-mail: ``[email protected].'' You may also obtain 
copies of the ICR document from the EPA Internet Home Page at http://
www.epa.gov/icr/icr.htm and refer to EPA ICR No. 0161.08.

ADDRESSES: Send comments, referencing EPA ICR No. 0161.08 and OMB 
Control No. 2070-0027, to the following addresses:

Ms. Sandy Farmer, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Regulatory 
Information Division (Mail Code: 2137), 401 M Street, S.W., Washington, 
DC 20460;
      and to:
Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, Office of Management and 
Budget (OMB), Attention: Desk Officer for EPA, 725 17th Street, N.W., 
Washington, DC 20503.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
    Review Requested: This is a request to renew a currently approved 
information collection pursuant to 5 CFR 1320.12.
    ICR Numbers: EPA ICR No. 0161.08; OMB Control No. 2070-0027.
    Current Expiration Date: Current OMB approval expires on June 30, 
1999.
    Title: Foreign Purchaser Acknowledgment Statement of Unregistered 
Pesticides.
    Abstract: This data collection program is designed to provide 
notice to foreign purchasers of unregistered pesticides exported from 
the United States that the pesticide product cannot be sold in the 
United States. Section 17(a)(2) of the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, 
and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA or the Act) requires an exporter of any 
pesticide not registered under FIFRA section 3 or sold under FIFRA 
section 6(a)(1) to obtain a signed statement from the foreign purchaser 
acknowledging that the purchaser is aware that the pesticide is not 
registered for use in the United States and cannot be sold in the 
United States. A copy of this statement must be transmitted to an 
appropriate official of the government in the importing country. The 
purpose of the purchaser acknowledgment statement requirement is to 
notify the government of the importing country that a pesticide judged 
hazardous to human health or the environment, or for which no such 
hazard assessment has been made, will be imported into that country. 
This information is submitted in the form of annual or per-shipment 
statements to the EPA, which maintains original records and transmits 
copies thereof to appropriate government officials of the countries 
which are importing the pesticides. The burden for this information 
collection has been constant since the implementation of the 1993 
pesticide export policy governing the export of pesticides, devices, 
and active ingredients used in producing pesticides.
    A detailed description of the collection activity covered by this 
ICR is provided in the ICR. The other activities related to pesticide 
registration, e.g., labeling and recordkeeping, are covered by a 
separate ICR (EPA ICR No. 0277; OMB Control No. 2070-0060). In general, 
the records that are required to be maintained under section 8 of FIFRA 
are already covered by the Pesticide Registration ICR. In addition, 
this ICR does not include any estimated burden or costs related to 
pesticide product labeling, which is not considered to be a collection 
of information subject to approval under the PRA because the 
information that must be included as the product labeling has been 
approved and provided by EPA. In 1995, in the context of the Pesticide 
Registration ICR, OMB determined that the Agency does not need to 
estimate burden or costs for the third party disclosure requirement 
involving the registrant's disclosure of product specific information 
to potential users and the general public through the pesticide 
labeling is not considered to be a collection of information subject to 
approval under the PRA because the information that must be included as 
the product labeling has been approved and provided to the registrant 
by EPA. (5 CFR 1320.3(c)(2)). This ICR, therefore, only accounts for 
the incremental burden of maintaining records related to the foreign 
labeling, and providing appropriate translations of certain required 
labeling statements.
    Burden Statement: The annual respondent burden for this information 
collection, which is based on a response

[[Page 32045]]

consisting of the submission of an FPAS and use of multi-lingual 
labeling, and varies slightly according to the registration status of 
the product, is estimated to average about 6.2 hours per response for 
registered products (1.081 hours for the FPAS+5.083 hours for multi-
lingual labeling), and about 6.7 hours per response for unregistered 
products (1.081 hours for the FPAS+5.583 hours for multi-lingual 
labeling). The annual respondent cost for this information collection 
is estimated to average about $492.49 per response for registered 
products ($74.33 for the FPAS+$418.16 for multi-lingual labeling), and 
about $553.99 per response for unregistered products ($74.33 for the 
FPAS+$479.66 for multi-lingual labeling). Under the PRA, ``burden'' 
means the total time, effort, or financial resources expended by 
persons to generate, maintain, retain, or disclose or provide 
information to or for a Federal agency. For this collection it includes 
the time for reviewing instructions, gathering and maintaining the data 
needed, and completing and reviewing the collection of information. No 
person is required to respond to a collection of information subject to 
approval under the PRA, unless it displays a currently valid OMB 
control number. The OMB control numbers for EPA regulations, after 
initially appearing in the Final Rule, are displayed in 40 CFR part 9, 
and on any applicable information collection instrument.
    The following is a brief summary of the estimates presented in this 
ICR:
    Respondents/Affected Entities: Exporters of pesticide products.
    Estimated total number of potential Respondents: 2,500.
    Frequency of Response: As determined by the exporter.
    Estimated total annual burden hours: 21,451.3.
    Estimated total annual burden costs: $1,746,536.
    Changes in Burden Estimates: The change in respondent burden is due 
to three factors: (1) EPA has revised the burden estimate for the 
purchaser acknowledgment requirement to reflect the numbers of FPASs 
submitted to EPA under the revised policy; (2) EPA has also adjusted 
the estimated burden imposed by the multi-lingual export labeling 
requirement, which requires exporters to translate the approved label 
provided by EPA, and (3) the estimated costs have increased 
significantly due to the use of the labor rates recently supplied by 
the Bureau of Labor Statistics. However, no changes have been made to 
the requirements for foreign purchaser acknowledgments.
    Next Step in the process for this ICR: After providing a 30 day 
opportunity for additional comments from the public, OMB will review 
and take action on the Agency's request. If this ICR involves the 
renewal of a currently approved collection activity for which the 
renewal request was submitted to OMB before the current approval 
expires, then the current approval will be extended month-to-month 
until OMB takes an action on the pending request (see 5 CFR 
1320.10(e)(2) and 1320.12(b)(2)). Periodically, EPA publishes a notice 
in the Federal Register listing recent OMB actions on the Agency's ICR 
submittals. If you have any questions about this ICR or the approval 
process, please contact the person listed in the FOR FURTHER 
INFORMATION CONTACT section.

    Dated: June 9, 1999.
Richard T. Westlund,
Acting Director, Regulatory Information Division.
[FR Doc. 99-15171 Filed 6-14-99; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6560-50-U