95-18872. Cancellation of Pesticides for Non-Payment of 1995 Registration Maintenance Fees  

  • [Federal Register Volume 60, Number 148 (Wednesday, August 2, 1995)]
    [Notices]
    [Pages 39390-39392]
    From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
    [FR Doc No: 95-18872]
    
    
    
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    ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
    [OPP-64027; FRL-4965-5]
    
    
    Cancellation of Pesticides for Non-Payment of 1995 Registration 
    Maintenance Fees
    
    AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
    
    ACTION: Notice.
    
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    SUMMARY: Since the amendments of October, 1988, the Federal 
    Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA) has required 
    payment of an annual maintenance fee to keep pesticide registrations in 
    effect. The fee due last January 15 has gone unpaid for about 1,215 
    registrations. Section 4(i)(5)(D) of FIFRA provides that the 
    Administrator may cancel these registrations by order and without a 
    hearing; orders to cancel all but a few of them have been issued within 
    the past few days. The Agency is deferring cancellation for certain of 
    these registrations, however, to permit time for affected users to 
    explore alternatives to cancellation directly with the registrants.
    
    DATES: Reports of agreements to support continued registration or 
    transfer of the registrations for which cancellation is being deferred 
    must be received by October 31, 1995.
    
    FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: To report agreements to support 
    continued registration of any of the products for which cancellation 
    has been deferred, for instructions on payment of delinquent 
    maintenance fees for these products, or for further information on the 
    maintenance fee program in general, contact by mail: John Jamula, 
    Office of Pesticide Programs (7504C), Environmental Protection Agency, 
    401 
    
    [[Page 39391]]
    M St., SW., Washington, DC 20460. Office location and telephone number: 
    Rm. 226, Crystal Mall No. 2, 1921 Jefferson Davis Highway South, 
    Arlington, VA 22202, (703) 305-6426. e-mail 
    jamula.john@epamail.epa.gov.
    
    SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
    
    I. Introduction
    
        Section 4(i)(5) of FIFRA, as amended in October, 1988 and again in 
    December, 1991 requires that all pesticide registrants pay an annual 
    registration maintenance fee, due by January 15 of each year, to keep 
    their registrations in effect. This requirement applies to all 
    registrations granted under section 3 as well as those granted under 
    section 24(c) to meet special local needs. Registrations for which the 
    fee is not paid are subject to cancellation by order and without a 
    hearing.
        The 1990 Farm Bill amended FIFRA to allow the Administrator to 
    reduce or waive maintenance fees for minor agricultural use pesticides 
    when she determines that the fee would be likely to cause significant 
    impact on the availability of the pesticide for the use. The Agency has 
    waived the fee for 52 minor agricultural use registrations at the 
    request of the registrants.
        In late November, 1994, all holders of either section 3 
    registrations or section 24(c) registrations were sent lists of their 
    active registrations, along with forms and instructions for responding. 
    They were asked to identify which of their registrations they wished to 
    maintain in effect, and to calculate and remit the appropriate 
    maintenance fees. Most responses were received by the statutory 
    deadline of January 15. A notice of intent to cancel was sent in mid-
    March to companies who did not respond and to companies who responded, 
    but paid for less than all of their registrations. Late payments of the 
    fees were accepted until April 15, when the actual process of 
    cancellation was begun.
        Since mailing the notices, EPA has maintained a toll-free inquiry 
    number through which the questions of affected registrants have been 
    answered.
        Maintenance fees have been paid for about 16,704 section 3 
    registrations, or about 95 percent of the registrations on file in 
    December, 1994. Fees have been paid for about 2,574 section 24(c) 
    registrations, or about 90 percent of the total on file in November, 
    1994. Cancellations for non-payment of the maintenance fee affect about 
    940 section 3 registrations and about 275 section 24(c) registrations.
    
    II. Product Cancellations not affecting status of Active Ingredient
    
        In the case of all but four section 3 registrations discussed in 
    Section III below, the active ingredients will remain available in 
    other registered products. We anticipate two types of impact for the 
    bulk of these cancellations. First, some of these disappearing 
    registrations will be survived in the market by substantially identical 
    registrations. These substantially identical products may not, however, 
    be readily available wherever a disappearing product was sold, so there 
    may be local or regional disruptions while distribution patterns are 
    adjusted. We expect these disruptions to be minor and temporary.
        The cancellation orders generally permit registrants to continue to 
    sell and distribute existing stocks of the canceled products until 
    January 15, 1996, the due date for the next annual registration 
    maintenance fee. Existing stocks already in the hands of dealers or 
    users, however, can generally be distributed, sold or used legally 
    until they are exhausted. Existing stocks are defined as those stocks 
    of a registered pesticide product which are currently in the U.S. and 
    which have been packaged, labeled and released for shipment prior to 
    the effective date of the order.
        The exceptions to these general rules are cases where more 
    stringent restrictions on sale, distribution, or use of the products 
    have already been imposed, through Special Reviews or other Agency 
    actions. These general provisions for disposition of stocks should 
    serve in most cases to cushion the impact of these cancellations while 
    the market adjusts.
        Second, in some cases unique non-agricultural uses will disappear, 
    although the active ingredients will remain available for different 
    uses in other products. When this situation occurs, there may be more 
    serious impacts on users of the canceled products. Once again, existing 
    stocks of the canceled products already in channels of trade will be 
    usable to mitigate these impacts in the short term. For the longer term 
    the mechanisms of section 3 amendments and 24(c) registrations will 
    remain available to obtain replacement registrations.
        Neither of these types of impact leaves users without the means to 
    replace lost registrations; neither is considered to justify further 
    deferral of cancellations for non-payment of the maintenance fee. Thus 
    all these registrations for which the active ingredient will remain in 
    other products have been canceled.
    
    III. Cancellations Leading to Disappearance of Active Ingredients
    
        A second type of impact arises if an active ingredient that is now 
    or has recently been available in the marketplace disappears. The 
    Agency believes there are four registered active ingredients in this 
    category. Of these four active ingredients, none has been subject to 
    prior regulatory action and all are likely to disappear as a 
    consequence of these cancellations. One is a plant growth regulator; 
    one is a microbial; one is a microbiocide, and one is a bacteriostat. 
    If the last section 3 registration for an ingredient disappears, the 
    section 24(c) registration process is unlikely to be able to compensate 
    for the loss.
        These four ingredients, grouped by these same general categories of 
    use patterns, are listed along with the EPA Company Number of their 
    registrants in the following Table 1.
    
          Table 1. -- Active Ingredients With Recent Production Pending     
        Cancellation of all Products for Non-payment of 1995 Registration   
               Maintenance Fees, in Sequence by Broad Use Pattern           
    ------------------------------------------------------------------------
         Chemical Name           Registration No.          Product Name     
    ------------------------------------------------------------------------
    A. Plant Growth                                                         
     Regulator.                                                             
      Glyphosate,                       000524-00332  Polado Plant Growth   
       Sesquisodium.                                   Salt Regulator       
    B. Microbial Pesticide.                                                 
      Bacillus                          053219-00001  M-ONE Insecticide     
       Thuringiensis subsp.                                                 
       san diego.                                                           
    C. Microbiocide........                                                 
      Amines, N-coco alkyl-             010349-00014  NALCO VISCO 1151      
       trimethylenedi-,                                                     
       adipates.                                                            
    D. Bacteriostat........                                                 
      Quaternary ammonium               010349-00003  NALCO ADOMALL         
       compounds, benzyl-                                                   
       C10-18-                                                              
       alkylbis(hydroxy                                                     
       ethyl)-, chloride.                                                   
    ------------------------------------------------------------------------
    
    
    
    [[Page 39392]]
    
        Because these active ingredients are likely to disappear with their 
    product registration, the Agency has deferred for 90 days the 
    cancellation of these 4 registrations. During that time those 
    registrants or other affected persons may make arrangements to continue 
    the registration.
        We encourage individual users or user groups who are concerned 
    about the potential loss of these active ingredients to work directly 
    with the registrant identified by the first 6 digits of the Reg. No. in 
    Table 1 to persuade them to continue to support the ingredient, or to 
    identify third parties who would be willing to support the ingredient 
    if the registration were transferred to them. The full names and 
    addresses of current registrants appear in Table 2 below. We also 
    encourage users to consult with the Cooperative Extension Service or 
    other local sources to identify alternatives to these active 
    ingredients.
        If the Agency is notified within 90 days of this notice at the 
    address given above either (1) that the registrant will continue to 
    support the registration, or (2) that an agreement has been reached to 
    transfer the registration to another party, we will reinstate the 
    registration to full active status as soon as the delinquent 
    maintenance fee payment is received. It should be emphasized, however, 
    that any such registrations would still be subject to all requirements 
    for reregistration, including reregistration fees (except as they may 
    be reduced through the statutory provisions for small businesses or low 
    volume uses).
    
    
     Table 2. -- Registrants of Selected Registrations Pending Cancellation 
              for Non-Payment of 1995 Registration Maintenance Fee          
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     EPA Company No.                  Company Name and Address              
    ------------------------------------------------------------------------
    000524...........  Monsanto Co., 700 14th St., N.W., Suite 1100,        
                        Washington, DC 20005.                               
    010349...........  NALCO Chemical Co., One NALCO Center, Box 87,        
                        Naperville, IL 60563.                               
    053219...........  MYCOGEN Corp., 4980 Carroll Canyon Rd., San Diego, CA
                        92121.                                              
    ------------------------------------------------------------------------
    
    
        In addition to publishing this notice in the Federal Register, we 
    are sending it directly to the States, to the U.S. Department of 
    Agriculture, and to other parties who have previously expressed concern 
    for minor uses. They should be receiving the notice at approximately 
    the same time it is published. We hope that this extraordinary 
    notification effort, and the deferral of cancellations for the most 
    sensitive registrations, will serve to prevent any avoidable loss of 
    critical minor use pesticides.
        Because so many registrations are involved, it would be impractical 
    to list those which have been canceled in this notice. Complete lists 
    of registrations canceled for non-payment of the maintenance fee will, 
    however, be available for reference during normal business hours in the 
    OPP Public Docket, Room 1128, Crystal Mall 2, 1921 Jefferson Davis 
    Highway South, Arlington VA, and at each EPA Regional Office. Product-
    specific status inquiries may be made by telephone by calling toll-free 
    1-800-444-7255.
    
    List of Subjects
    
        Environmental protection, Agricultural commodities, Pesticides and 
    pests.
    
        Dated: July 19, 1995.
    
    Daniel M. Barolo,
    Director, Office of Pesticide Programs.
    
    [FR Doc. 95-18872 Filed 8-1-95; 8:45 am]
    BILLING CODE 6560-50-F
    
    

Document Information

Published:
08/02/1995
Department:
Environmental Protection Agency
Entry Type:
Notice
Action:
Notice.
Document Number:
95-18872
Dates:
Reports of agreements to support continued registration or transfer of the registrations for which cancellation is being deferred must be received by October 31, 1995.
Pages:
39390-39392 (3 pages)
Docket Numbers:
OPP-64027, FRL-4965-5
PDF File:
95-18872.pdf