[Federal Register Volume 89, Number 112 (Monday, June 10, 2024)]
[Notices]
[Pages 48893-48894]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2024-12626]



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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

[EPA-HQ-OPP-2023-0398; FRL-8944-01-OCSPP]


Pesticides; Draft Pesticide Registration Notice; Revised 
Procedures for Citing Data To Support Pesticide Registrations (EPA 
Forms No. 8570-34 and 8570-35); Notice of Availability and Request for 
Comment

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA or ``Agency'') is 
announcing the availability of and seeking public comment on a draft 
Pesticide Registration Notice (PR Notice) entitled ``Revised Procedures 
for Citing Data to Support Pesticide Registrations (EPA Forms No. 8570-
34 and 8570-35).'' PR Notices are issued by the Office of Pesticide 
Programs (OPP) to inform pesticide registrants and other interested 
persons about important policies, procedures, and registration related 
decisions, and serve to provide guidance to pesticide registrants and 
OPP personnel. This draft PR Notice, will supersede PR Notice 98-5, 
entitled ``New forms for the Certification with Respect to Citation of 
Data'' dated June 12, 1998. The Agency is eliminating the instructions 
provided in PR Notice 98-5 that required registrants to submit two 
versions of EPA Form No. 8570-35 (``Data Matrix''), and the use of 
paper submissions. The changes in procedure are necessary updates to 
reflect current operations established to help reduce the burden 
associated with completing, submitting, and processing these forms for 
both applicants and the Agency, as well as to provide improved 
efficiencies for providing public access to the information without the 
extra burden associated with the use of formal procedures to request 
additional information.

DATES: Comments must be received on or before July 10, 2024.

ADDRESSES: Submit your comments, identified by docket identification 
(ID) number EPA-HQ-OPP-2023-0398, through the https://www.regulations.gov. Follow the online instructions for submitting 
comments. Do not submit electronically any information you consider to 
be CBI or other information whose disclosure is restricted by statute. 
Additional instructions on commenting or visiting the docket, along 
with more information about dockets generally, is available at https://www.epa.gov/dockets.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Earl Ingram, Office of Chemical Safety 
and Pollution Prevention (7603M), Environmental Protection Agency, 1200 
Pennsylvania Ave. NW, Washington, DC 20460-0001; telephone number: 
(202) 566-1381; email address: [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

I. Does this action apply to me?

    This action is directed to the general public, although this action 
may be of particular interest to those persons who are required to 
submit data in support of pesticide registrations under the Federal 
Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA). Since other 
entities may also be interested, the Agency has not attempted to 
describe all the specific entities that may be affected by this action.

II. What is the Agency's authority for taking this action?

    Pesticide registration activities are governed by FIFRA, 7 U.S.C. 
136 et seq.

III. What guidance does this PR Notice provide?

    This draft PR Notice provides updated guidance to registrants and 
applicants (hereinafter ``registrants'') concerning their submission of 
the forms used for citing data to support pesticide registrations. The 
forms themselves that are currently in use are not being changed. This 
PR Notice will supersede PR Notice 98-5, entitled ``New forms for the 
Certification with Respect to Citation of Data'' dated June 12, 1998, 
that announced the availability of these forms to use for citation of 
data to support pesticide registrations, which were newly established 
in 1998 to streamline the forms previously used. With this PR Notice, 
OPP is revising the procedures established in 1998. Specifically, OPP 
is eliminating the instruction in PR Notice 98-5 that registrants 
submit two versions of EPA Form 8570-35 (``Data Matrix''), i.e., one 
the ``Internal Agency Use Copy'' and the other the ``Public File 
Copy''. Consistent with federal mandates that direct agencies to adopt 
electronic submissions, OPP is also eliminating the instruction to use 
paper submissions as described in PR Notice 98-5 because these forms 
can be completed and submitted electronically.
    In addition, EPA has determined that none of the information 
provided on EPA Form No. 8570-35 is confidential. EPA regulations at 40 
CFR 152.119(c) require that, when requested, the Agency provides the 
form to the public for inspection after a product is registered. The 
information in the data matrix form is specified by EPA regulations at 
40 CFR 152.119(b):

    Materials that will be publicly available include an applicant's 
list of data requirements, the method used by the applicant to 
demonstrate compliance for each data requirement, and the 
applicant's citations of specific studies in the Agency's possession 
if applicable.

    CBI claims for information submitted under EPA's data requirements 
in 40 CFR part 158 is strictly limited in 40 CFR 158.33 to 
manufacturing or quality control processes, the details of any methods 
for testing, detecting, or measuring the quantity of any deliberately 
added inert ingredient of a pesticide, and the identity or percentage 
quantity of any deliberately added inert ingredient of a pesticide, 
pursuant to FIFRA section 10(d)(1) (A) through (C). None of this 
information is reported in the data matrix form. Because none of the 
information on EPA Form No. 8570-35 is CBI, the Agency is able to 
release the form in response to a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) 
request.
    In addition, OPP is eliminating the instruction to use paper 
submissions as described in PR Notice 98-5 because these forms can be 
completed and submitted electronically. This PR Notice provides updated 
instructions for completing and submitting these forms electronically 
through the Pesticide Submission Portal (PSP) that OPP established to 
allow registrants to create and submit packages electronically in lieu 
of submitting multiple paper copies. The PSP is accessed through the 
EPA's Central Data Exchange (CDX) Network (https://cdx.epa.gov/), which 
is a web-based system used for various electronic environmental data 
submissions to EPA.
    The changes in procedure presented in this draft PR Notice are 
necessary updates to reflect current operations established to help 
reduce the burden associated with completing, submitting and processing 
these forms for both applicants and the Agency, as well as to provide 
improved efficiencies for providing public access to the information 
without the extra burden associated with the use of formal requests for 
the additional information contained in the ``Internal Agency Use 
Copy'' of EPA Form 8570-35 (``Data Matrix'').

IV. Do PR Notices contain binding requirements?

    The draft PR Notice discussed in this document is intended to 
provide guidance to EPA personnel and decision makers and to pesticide 
registrants. While the requirements in the statutes and Agency 
regulations are binding on

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EPA and the applicants, this PR Notice is not binding on either EPA or 
pesticide registrants, and EPA may depart from the guidance where 
circumstances warrant and without prior notice. Likewise, pesticide 
registrants may assert that the guidance is not appropriate generally 
or not applicable to a specific pesticide or situation.

V. Are these forms approved under the Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA)?

    According to the PRA, 44 U.S.C. 3501 et seq., an agency may not 
conduct or sponsor, and a person is not required to respond to a 
collection of information that requires approval under the PRA, unless 
it has been approved by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and 
displays a currently valid OMB control number. The information 
collection activities associated with EPA Forms 8570-34 and 8570-35 and 
the activities described in this PR Notice are already approved by OMB 
under the PRA and are contained in the Information Collection Requests 
(ICRs) entitled ``Consolidated Pesticide Registration Submission 
Portal'' identified as EPA ICR No. 2624.01 and approved under OMB 
Control No. 2070-0226; and the ``Pesticide Data Call-in Program'' 
identified as EPA ICR No. 2288 and approved under OMB Control No. 2070-
0174. For additional information about these ICRs, use the link https://www.reginfo.gov/public/ and search on the applicable OMB control 
number.
    Authority: 7 U.S.C. 136 et seq.

    Dated: June 4, 2024.
Edward Messina,
Director, Office of Pesticide Programs.
[FR Doc. 2024-12626 Filed 6-7-24; 8:45 am]
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