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United States Environmental Protection Agency
Pesticides: Regulating Pesticides
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Trade Issues

Importing and Exporting Pesticide Products
Export of Unregistered Pesticides (FIFRA Section 17(a))
Notifications of Pesticide Imports (FIFRA Section 17(c))

EPA Activities on Trade

EPA programs such as Pesticides, International Activities, Office of General Counsel, and the Environment and Trade Task Force, provides technical support to the U.S. government in activities related to the World Trade Organization (WTO) Agreements.  The Pesticide Program participates in activities relating to the WTO's Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS) Committee, which reviews WTO trade-related issues on pesticide residues and other food-related concerns, and the WTO's Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT) Committee. Of particular interest is work underway on the proposed Free Trade Area of the Americas.  EPA is also closely following the Mutual Recognition Agreement (MRA) framework agreed to by the U.S. and the European Union, which provides for mutual recognition by the U.S. and EU of each other's decisions in a number of economic sectors, and which may in the future be extended to certain chemical decisions.

Importing and Exporting Pesticide Products

EPA regulates both the import and export of pesticides. All pesticides which are intended to be used in the US must first be registered with EPA prior to import. All registered pesticides which are exported to other countries must bear the product label approved by EPA; for those unregistered pesticides which are exported, exporters must meet the requirements of FIFRA Section 17(a) related to foreign purchaser acknowledgement statements, export notification and labeling. The US is a signatory to the Rotterdam Convention on the Prior Informed Consent (PIC) Procedure for Certain Hazardous Chemicals and Pesticides in International Trade, which controls trade in banned and severely restricted pesticides. Ratification activities are underway; once ratified, the PIC Convention requirements may affect the existing export procedures for listed substances.

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Export of Unregistered Pesticides (FIFRA Section 17(a))

Pesticides that are not approved - or registered - for use in the U.S. may be manufactured in the U.S. and exported. FIFRA Section 17(a) requires that exporters of unregistered pesticides first obtain a statement signed by the foreign purchaser indicating the purchaser's awareness of that product in the U.S. The requirement is shipment-specific for a particular exporter, product and purchaser. To ensure that national officials responsible for the protection of health and the environment are informed of this shipment, EPA transmits a copy of the statement to the Designated National Authority (DNA) (so designated as part of the United Nations program on Prior Informed Consent) in the receiving country. EPA is placing the highest priority on timely notification for two categories of exported pesticides which EPA believes may be of greatest concern to countries:

(1) pesticides on the international list of Prior Informed Consent (PIC), most of which have also been banned or severely restricted in the U.S., and

(2) other pesticides banned and severely restricted in the U.S. for health or environmental reasons, which are not on the PIC list.

It is EPA's intention to make the U.S. export notification program compatible with the international one, while meeting domestic legislative requirements. Revisions to the U.S. export notification program will be considered in the context of implementation of the PIC Agreement.

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Notifications of Pesticide Imports (FIFRA Section 17(c))

The importation of pesticides and devices is governed by FIFRA Section 17(c). All imported pesticides intended for use in the United States must be registered as required by Section 3 of FIFRA before being permitted entry into the US. Devices that are imported to be used in conjunction with pesticides, although not required to be registered, must not bear any statement, design, or graphic representation that is false or misleading in any particular. Pesticides and devices must be properly labeled in accordance with FIFRA and Title 40 of the Code of Federal Regulations, Section 156. When importing pesticides or devices to the U.S., the importer must submit to the appropriate EPA Regional Office a Notice of Arrival (NOA) of Pesticides and Devices; NOA forms can be downloaded or obtained from contacts in the EPA Regional Offices. Once EPA Regional Office staff have approved the shipment, they return the NOA form to the importer. Upon arrival of a shipment of pesticides or devices, the importer must present the approved NOA form to the district director of Customs at the port of entry. EPA's Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance (OECA) has the primary enforcement responsibility for pesticide importing requirements, with the support of EPA's Regional Offices.

 

 

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