Pesticides; Data Requirements for Antimicrobial Pesticides; Notice of Public Workshop, 63112-63113 [E8-25350]

Agencies

• ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

[Federal Register Volume 73, Number 206 (Thursday, October 23, 2008)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 63112-63113]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E8-25350]


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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

40 CFR Parts 158 and 161

[EPA-HQ-OPP-2008-0110; FRL-8388-7]


Pesticides; Data Requirements for Antimicrobial Pesticides; 
Notice of Public Workshop

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Proposed rule; supplemental information about public workshop; 
availability of web conference.

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SUMMARY: This notice provides supplemental information to the notice 
published on October 10, 2008, that announced the scheduling of a 
November 6, 2008, public workshop to explain the provisions of its 
recently proposed rule to update and revise the data requirements for 
registration of antimicrobial pesticides. EPA has arranged for a web 
conference for those persons who cannot attend in-person the public 
workshop. The workshop is intended to provide an opportunity for 
members of the public to ask questions about the proposed rule and seek 
any clarification they believe may assist them in submitting comments 
to the docket for the proposed rule. Any person wishing to comment on 
the proposed rule must submit any comments to the docket within the 
timeframe set forth in the Notice of Proposed Rulemaking.

DATES: The meeting will be held on November 6, 2008, from 8:30 a.m. to 
4 p.m.
    To request accommodation of a disability, please contact the person 
listed under FOR FURTHER INFORMATON CONTACT, preferably at least 10 
days prior to the meeting, to give EPA as much time as possible to 
process your request.

ADDRESSES: The meeting will be held at the Office of Pesticide Programs 
(OPP), First Floor Conference Center, One Potomac Yard (South Bldg.), 
2777 S. Crystal Dr., Arlington, VA 22202.
    To facilitate the Agency's planning, your intention to participate 
in the web conference for the Antimicrobials Workshop, may be submitted 
to the person listed under FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT.

[[Page 63113]]


FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Amaris Johnson, Field and External 
Affairs Division, Office of Pesticide Programs, Environmental 
Protection Agency, 1200 Pennsylvania Ave., NW., Washington, DC 20460-
0001; telephone number: (703) 305-9542; fax number: (703) 305-5884; e-
mail address:johnson.amaris@epa.gov.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. General Information

A. Does this Action Apply to Me?

    You may be affected by this action if you are a producer of 
pesticide products (NAICS 32532), antifoulants (NAICS 32551), 
antimicrobial pesticides (NAICS 32561) or wood preservatives (NAICS 
32519), importers of such products, or any person or company who seeks 
to register an antimicrobial, antifoulant coating, ballast water 
treatment, or wood preservative pesticide or to obtain a tolerance for 
such a pesticide. This listing is not intended to be exhaustive, but 
rather provides a guide for readers regarding entities likely to be 
affected by this action. Other types of entities not listed above could 
also be affected. The North American Industrial Classification System 
(NAICS) codes have been provided to assist you and others in 
determining whether this action might apply to certain entities. If you 
have any questions regarding the applicability of this action to a 
particular entity, please contact Norm Cook, Chief of the Risk 
Assessment and Science Support Branch in the Antimicrobials Division of 
the Office of Pesticide Programs at (703) 308-8253 or via email, 
cook.norm@epa.gov.

B. How Can I Get Copies of this Document and Other Related Information?

    1. Docket. EPA has established a docket for this action under 
docket ID number EPA-HQ-OPP-2008-0110. Publicly available docket 
materials are available either in the electronic docket athttps://
www.regulations.gov, or, if only available in hard copy, at the Office 
of Pesticide Programs (OPP) Regulatory Public Docket in Rm. S-4400, One 
Potomac Yard (South Bldg.), 2777 S. Crystal Dr., Arlington, VA 22202. 
The hours of operation of this Docket Facility are from 8:30 a.m. to 4 
p.m., Monday through Friday, excluding legal holidays. The Docket 
Facility telephone number is (703) 305-5805.
    2. Electronic access. You may access this Federal Register document 
electronically through the EPA Internet under the ``Federal Register'' 
listings athttps://www.epa.gov/fedrgstr.

II. Background

    EPA is convening a public workshop to explain the proposed 
revisions to the data requirements for the registration of 
antimicrobial pesticides. Under the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and 
Rodenticide Act (FIFRA) and the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act 
(FFDCA), anyone seeking to register a pesticide product is required to 
provide information to EPA to demonstrate that their products can be 
used without posing ``unreasonable adverse effects on the environment'' 
as defined by FIFRA section 2(bb).
    The public workshop will include presentations by staff from the 
Antimicrobial, and the Field and External Affairs Divisions of the 
Office of Pesticide Programs. The proposed revisions are directed at 
antimicrobial pesticides, not conventional pesticides, biochemical and 
microbial pesticides or product performance data requirements. 
Nonetheless, all interested parties are welcome and may benefit from 
the discussions since two areas not addressed in the conventional 
pesticide (72 FR 60934, October 26, 2007) (FRL-8106-5), or biochemical 
and microbial pesticide (72 FR 60988, October 26, 2007) (FRL-8109-8) 
data requirements final rules are addressed in the antimicrobial data 
requirements proposed rule. These two areas are: Down-the-drain data 
requirements and the Program's use of structure-activity-relationship 
(SAR).
    During the workshop, persons in attendance will be able to ask 
questions regarding the proposed rule and/or material being presented 
and seek any clarification they believe may assist them in submitting 
comments to the docket for the proposed rule. Any person wishing to 
comment on the proposed rule must submit any comments to the docket 
within the timeframe set forth in the Notice of Proposed Rulemaking.
    The proposed revisions were issued in the Federal Register of 
October 8, 2008 (73 FR 59382) (FRL-8358-2). A 90-day comment period 
will end on January 6, 2008. The notice of the workshop was published 
on October 10, 2008 (73 FR 60211) (FRL-8383-6). A limited number of 
copies of the proposed rule will be available at the workshop. 
Attendees are encouraged to access the electronic version of the 
proposed rule from the regulations.gov website under Docket ID number 
EPA-HQ-OPP-2008-0110.
    The Agency has arranged for a web conference to serve as an 
alternate means of participating in the workshop. You can join the web 
conference starting at 8 a.m. on November 6, 2008. To access the web 
conference go to https://portal.epa.gov/webconference, and complete the 
Join Conference box on the right of the screen using the following 
information: Conference ID: 309742 and Conference Key: 12345. Type in 
your full name and then select: Join Conference. For the audio portion 
call (866) 299-3188 and then use code 7033056304. Additional 
information on web conferencing can be accessed from the 
regulations.gov website under Docket ID number EPA-HQ-OPP-2008-0110.

List of Subjects

    Environmental protection, Administrative practice and procedure, 
Agricultural commodities, Pesticides and pests, Reporting and 
recordkeeping requirements.


    Dated: October 17, 2008.
Martha Monell,
Acting Director, Office of Pesticide Programs.
[FR Doc. E8-25350 Filed 10-22-08; 8:45 am]
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