. /.WORLD TRADE
ORGANIZATIONG/SPS/N/USA/543
21 January 2002
(02-0293)
Committee on Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures Original:  English
NOTIFICATION
1. Member to Agreement notifying:  UNITED STATES
If applicable, name of local government involved:           
2. Agency responsible:  Environmental Protection Agency
3. Products covered (provide tariff item number(s) as specified in national schedules
deposited with the WTO; ICS numbers may be provided in addition, whereapplicable).  Regions or countries likely to be affected, to the extent relevant or
practicable:  Pesticides
4. Title and number of pages of the notified document:  Pesticides;  Tolerance Exemptions
for Minimal Risk Active and Inert Ingredients (7 pages)
5.Description of content:  The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) proposes to list in
40 CFR part 180 the pesticide chemicals that are exempted from the requirement of a
tolerance based on the Agency's determination that these chemicals are of "minimal risk".
The pesticide chemicals to be listed in 40 CFR 180.1001(g) include both active and inert
ingredients and will be accomplished in several steps.  As a first step, the existing toleranceexemptions for commonly consumed food commodities, animal feed items, and edible fats
and oils will be recodified in the newly created paragraph (g) in a different format.
Restructuring to this new format will provide greater clarification in defining a minimal risk
pesticide chemical as well as increasing the number of substances that are currently
considered to be minimal risk.  In the future, EPA will propose other minimal risk pesticide
chemicals for inclusion in paragraph (g).  These regulatory actions are part of the tolerance
reassessment requirements of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FFDCA) section408(q), as amended by the Food Quality Protec tion Act (FQPA) of 1996.  By law, EPA is
required to reassess 66 per cent of the tolerances in existence on 2 August 1996, by
August 2002, or about 6,400 tolerances.  The regulatory actions proposed in this document,
the proposed revocation of 39 tolerance exemptions, would be counted toward the August
2002 deadline.
6. Objective and rationale: [  X ] food safety,  [     ] animal health,  [     ] plant protection,
[    ] protect humans from animal/plant pest or disease, [     ] protect territory from
other damage from pests           
7. An international standard, guideline or recommendation does not exist [  X ].
If an international standard, guideline or recommendation exists, give the appropriate
reference and briefly identify deviations:
8. Relevant documents and language(s) in which these are available: 67 FR 1925,
15 January 2002 (Available in English)G/SPS/N/USA/543
Page 2
9. Proposed date of adoption:  To be determined.
10. Proposed date of entry into force:  To be determined.
11. Final date for comments:  Comments must be received on or before 18 March 2002.
Agency or authority designated to handle comments:  Environmental Protection Agency
[    ] National notification authority, [     ] National enquiry point, or address, fax
number and E-mail address (if available) of other body:
Detailed instruction on where and how to send comments is in the body of the full text
which will be sent upon request to the address in paragraph 12.
12. Texts available from: [  X ] National notification authority, [  X ] National enquiry point
or address, fax number and E-mail address (if available) of other body:
United States SPS Enquiry Point/Notification Authority
USDA/FAS/FSTSD
ATTN:  Carolyn F. Wilson
Room 5545 South Agriculture Building
Stop 1027
1400 Independence Avenue, S.W.Washington, D.C. 20250
Tel:   (202) 720-2239
Fax:  (202) 690-0677
E-mail:  ofsts@fas.usda.gov