[Federal Register Volume 68, Number 83 (Wednesday, April 30, 2003)]
[Notices]
[Pages 23126-23127]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 03-10654]


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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

[OPP-2002-0218, FRL-7489-7]


Agency Information Collection Activities; Submission to OMB; 
Comment Request; EPA ICR No. 0597.08/OMB Control No. 2070-0024; 
Tolerance Petitions for Pesticides on Food/Feed Crops and New Inert 
Ingredients

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Notice.

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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) has been forwarded to the Office 
of Management and Budget (OMB) for review and approval: Tolerance 
Petitions for Pesticides on Food/Feed Crops and New Inert Ingredients; 
EPA ICR No. 0597.08; OMB Control No. 2070-0024. The ICR, which is 
abstracted below, describes the nature of the information collection 
activity and its expected burden and costs.

DATES: Additional comments may be submitted on or before May 30, 2003.

ADDRESSES: Submit your comments, referencing docket ID number OPP-2002-
0218, to (1) EPA online using EDOCKET (our preferred method), by e-mail 
to [email protected], or by mail to: Public Information and Records 
Integrity Branch (PIRIB), Office of Pesticide Programs (OPP), 
Environmental Protection Agency, Mailcode: 7502C, 1200 Pennsylvania 
Ave., NW., Washington, DC 20460, and (2) OMB at: Office of Information 
and Regulatory Affairs, Office of Management and Budget (OMB), 
Attention: Desk Officer for EPA, 725 17th Street, NW., Washington, DC 
20503.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Nancy Vogel, Field and External 
Affairs Division (7506C), Office of Pesticide Programs, Environmental 
Protection Agency, 1200 Pennsylvania Ave., NW., Washington, DC 20460; 
telephone number: (703) 305-6475; fax number: (703) 305-5884; e-mail 
address: [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: EPA has submitted the following ICR to OMB 
for review and approval according to the procedures prescribed in 5 CFR 
1320.12. The Federal Register document, required under 5 CFR 1320.8(d), 
soliciting comments on this collection of information was published on 
October 31, 2002 (67 FR 66392). EPA received no comments on this ICR 
during the 60-day comment period.
    EPA has established a public docket for this ICR under Docket ID 
No. OPP-2002-0218, which is available for public viewing at the Public 
Information and Records Integrity Branch (PIRIB), Rm. 119, Crystal Mall 
2, 1921 Jefferson Davis Hwy., Arlington, VA. This docket 
facility is open from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m., Monday through Friday, 
excluding legal holidays. The docket telephone number is (703) 305-
5805. An electronic version of the public docket is available through 
EPA Dockets (EDOCKET) at http://www.epa.gov/edocket. Use EDOCKET to 
submit or view public comments, access the index listing of the 
contents of the public docket, and to access those documents in the 
public docket that are available electronically. Once in the system, 
select ``search,'' then key in the docket ID number identified above.
    Any comments related to this ICR should be submitted to EPA and OMB 
within 30 days of this notice. Please note, EPA's policy is that public 
comments, whether submitted electronically or in paper, will be made 
available for public viewing in EDOCKET as EPA receives them and 
without change, unless the comment contains copyrighted material, CBI, 
or other information whose public disclosure is restricted by statute. 
When EPA identifies a comment containing copyrighted material, EPA will 
provide a reference to that material in the version of the comment that 
is placed in EDOCKET. The entire printed comment, including the 
copyrighted material, will be available in the public docket. Although 
identified as an item in the official docket, information claimed as 
CBI, or whose disclosure is otherwise restricted by statute, is not 
included in the official public docket, and will not be available for 
public viewing in EDOCKET. For further information about the electronic 
docket, see EPA's Federal Register notice describing the electronic 
docket at 67 FR 38102 (May 31, 2002), or go to http://www.epa.gov/edocket.
    ICR Title: Tolerance Petitions for Pesticides on Food/Feed Crops 
and New Inert Ingredients (EPA ICR 0597.08, OMB Control No. 2070-0024).
    ICR Status: This is a request for extension of an existing approved 
collection that is currently scheduled to expire on April 30, 2003. EPA 
is asking OMB to approve this ICR for three years. Under 5 CFR 
1320.12(b)(2), the Agency may continue to conduct or sponsor the 
collection of information while the submission is pending at OMB.
    Abstract: This information collection will enable EPA to collect 
adequate data to support the establishment of pesticide tolerances 
pursuant to section 408 of the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act 
(FFDCA). A pesticide may not be used on food or feed crops unless EPA 
has established a tolerance for the pesticide residues on that crop, or 
established an exemption from the requirement to have a tolerance. 
Responses to this collection are required to obtain tolerances or 
exemptions from tolerances for pesticides used on food or feed crops, 
pursuant to section 408 of FFDCA, 21 U.S.C. 346a, as amended by FQPA 
(Public Law 104-170). Confidential Business Information (CBI) submitted 
to EPA in response to this information collection is protected from 
disclosure under FIFRA section 10.
    It is EPA's responsibility to ensure that the maximum residue 
levels likely to be found in or on food/feed crops are safe for human 
consumption through a careful review and evaluation of residue 
chemistry and toxicology data. In addition, it must ensure that 
adequate enforcement of the tolerance can be achieved through the 
testing of submitted analytical methods. Once the data are deemed 
adequate to support the findings, EPA will establish the tolerance or 
grant an exemption from the requirement of a tolerance.
    Burden Statement: The annual ``respondent'' burden for this ICR is 
estimated to be 258,900 hours. According to the Paperwork Reduction 
Act, ``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 
is the time reading the regulations, planning the necessary data 
collection activities, conducting tests, analyzing data, generating 
reports and completing other required paperwork, and storing, filing, 
and maintaining the data. The

[[Page 23127]]

agency may not conduct or sponsor, and a person is not required to 
respond to, a collection of information unless it displays a currently 
valid OMB control number. The OMB control number for this information 
collection appear at the beginning and the end of this document. In 
addition OMB control numbers for EPA's regulations, after initial 
display in the final rule, are listed in 40 CFR part 9.
    The following is a summary of the burden estimates taken from the 
ICR:
    Respondents/affected entities: Any person seeking a tolerance 
action.
    Estimated total number of potential respondents: 150.
    Frequency of response: As needed.
    Estimated total/average number of responses for each respondent: 1.
    Estimated total annual burden hours: 258,900.
    Estimated total annual burden costs: $23,435,700.
    Changes in the ICR Since the Last Approval: The total estimated 
annual respondent cost for this ICR has increased $1,305,700 (from 
$22,130,000 to $23,435,700), due mainly to the update in the loaded 
hourly labor rates used to calculate the costs. This increase is 
explained more fully in the ICR.
    According to the procedures prescribed in 5 CFR 1320.12, EPA has 
submitted this ICR to OMB for review and approval. Any comments related 
to the renewal of this ICR should be submitted within 30 days of this 
notice, as described above.

    Dated: April 22, 2003.
Richard T. Westlund,
Acting Director, Collection Strategies Division.
[FR Doc. 03-10654 Filed 4-29-03; 8:45 am]
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