[Federal Register Volume 64, Number 10 (Friday, January 15, 1999)]
[Notices]
[Pages 2640-2641]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 99-1027]
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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
[OPPTS-00254; FRL-6041-6]
Development of Voluntary Consensus Standards for Environmentally
Preferable Goods and Services
AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
ACTION: Notice.
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SUMMARY: In association with its efforts to implement Presidential
Executive Order 12873, ``Federal Acquisition, Recycling and Waste
Prevention,'' and Executive Order 13101, ``Greening the Government
Through Waste Prevention, Recycling and Federal Acquisition,'' EPA is
interested in working with non-governmental standards developers to
promote the development of voluntary consensus standards for
environmentally preferable goods and services. EPA is seeking opinions
and comments on the availability of using voluntary consensus standards
to implement the President's Order. The purpose of this notice is to
help EPA determine the level of interest among standards developers in
the development of environmental attributes and associated voluntary
standards for specific product categories. EPA is seeking comments
about what types of markets are most suited to incorporation of
environmentally preferable products. EPA also seeks to gather
information on the level of activity and expertise already available
through standard setting organizations for determining environmental
preferability in specific product categories and comment on whether EPA
should adopt those standards.
DATES: Comments must be postmarked by March 31, 1999.
ADDRESSES: Each comment must bear the docket control number ``OPPTS-
00254.'' All comments should be sent in triplicate to: OPPT Document
Control Officer (7407), Office of Pollution Prevention and Toxics,
Environmental Protection Agency, 401 M St., SW., Rm. G-099, East Tower,
Washington, DC 20460.
Comments and data may also be submitted electronically to: oppt.
ncic@epamail.epa.gov. Follow the instructions under Unit II. of this
document. No Confidential Business Information (CBI) should be
submitted through e-mail.
All comments which contain information claimed as CBI must be
clearly marked as such. Three sanitized copies of any comments
containing information claimed as CBI must also be submitted and will
be placed in the public record for this action. Persons submitting
information on any portion of which they believe is entitled to
treatment as CBI by EPA must assert a business confidentiality claim in
accordance with 40 CFR 2.203(b) for each such portion. This claim must
be made at the time that the information is submitted to EPA. If a
submitter does not assert a confidentiality claim at the time of
submission, EPA will consider this as a waiver of any confidentiality
claim and the information may be made available to the public by EPA
without further notice to the submitter.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Lena Ferris, Pollution Prevention
Division (7409), Office of Pollution Prevention and Toxics,
Environmental Protection Agency, 401 M St., SW., Washington, DC 20450,
Telephone: (202) 260-2237, or e-mail: ferris.lena@epa.gov
[[Page 2641]]
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. Background
EPA is seeking general comments on the issues mentioned in the
``SUMMARY'' statement above. EPA is particularly interested in comments
from persons who are already actively involved in voluntary standards
development or if you are considering establishing a program for
developing voluntary standards incorporating environmental attributes
for products or services, please respond to the questions addressed and
send all information, postmarked no later then March 31, 1999, to the
docket listed under the ``ADDRESSES'' section above. All comments will
be accepted and considered.
To help EPA determine the level of interest among standards
developers in the development of environmental attributes and
associated voluntary standards for specific product categories and
services, please provide responses to the following questions.
1. The name, address, and contact information for the organization.
2. Does the organization develop standards for specific business or
industry sectors, e.g., automotive, telecommunications, etc., or does
it develop standards in all areas?
3. Does the organization operate under procedures set forth by the
American National Standards Institute (ANSI) or do you have other
written procedures that you use for standards development? If
available, please provide a copy.
4. Does the organization currently have, or plan to have, standards
development activities focusing on, or specifically integrating,
environmental attributes as part of the scope of the standard(s)?
5. Does the organization do product certification?
6. Does the organization typically engage in product attribute
development as well as standards development? If so, what kinds of
products are generally involved?
7. Do members of government departments or agencies participate in
your standards development activities? If so, are there any members
from regulatory agencies or departments?
8. Has the organization done any assessment of the market needs for
environmentally preferable products? If so, and the information is
available, what is your assessment of product categories and/or market
sectors where the interest is likely to be high for environmentally
related standards?
II. Public Record and Electronic Submissions
The official record for this action, as well as the public version,
has been established for this action under docket control number
``OPPTS-00254 '' (including comments and data submitted electronically
as described below). A public version of this record, including
printed, paper versions of electronic comments, which does not include
any information claimed as CBI, is available for inspection from 12
noon to 4 p.m., Monday through Friday, excluding legal holidays. The
official record is located in the TSCA Nonconfidential Information
Center, Rm. NE-B607, 401 M St., SW., Washington, DC.
Electronic comments can be sent directly to EPA at:
oppt.ncic@epamail.epa.gov
Electronic comments must be submitted as an ASCII file avoiding the
use of special characters and any form of encryption. Comments and data
will also be accepted on disks in WordPerfect 5.1/6.1 or ASCII file
format. All comments and data in electronic form must be identified by
the docket control number ``OPPTS-00254.'' Electronic comments on this
action may be filed online at many Federal Depository Libraries.
List of Subjects
Environmental protection.
Dated: December 23, 1998.
William H. Sanders, III
Director, Office of Pollution Prevention and Toxics.
[FR Doc. 99-1027 Filed 1-14-99; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6560-50-F
