Agency Information Collection Activities; Foreign Purchaser Acknowledgment Statement of Unregistered Pesticides; Submission of ICR No. 0161.08 to OMB for Review and Approval; Request for Comment

Review Requested: This is a request to renew a currently approved information collection pursuant to 5 CFR 1320.12. ICR Numbers: EPA ICR No. 0161.08; OMB Control No. 2070-0027. Current Expiration Date: Current OMB approval expires on June 30, 1999. Title: Foreign Purchaser Acknowledgment Statement of Unregistered Pesticides. Abstract: This data collection program is designed to provide notice to foreign purchasers of unregistered pesticides exported from the United States that the pesticide product cannot be sold in the United States. Section 17(a)(2) of the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA or the Act) requires an exporter of any pesticide not registered under FIFRA section 3 or sold under FIFRA section 6(a)(1) to obtain a signed statement from the foreign purchaser acknowledging that the purchaser is aware that the pesticide is not registered for use in the United States and cannot be sold in the United States. A copy of this statement must be transmitted to an appropriate official of the government in the importing country. The purpose of the purchaser acknowledgment statement requirement is to notify the government of the importing country that a pesticide judged hazardous to human health or the environment, or for which no such hazard assessment has been made, will be imported into that country. This information is submitted in the form of annual or per-shipment statements to the EPA, which maintains original records and transmits copies thereof to appropriate government officials of the countries which are importing the pesticides. The burden for this information collection has been constant since the implementation of the 1993 pesticide export policy governing the export of pesticides, devices, and active ingredients used in producing pesticides. A detailed description of the collection activity covered by this ICR is provided in the ICR. The other activities related to pesticide registration, e.g., labeling and recordkeeping, are covered by a separate ICR (EPA ICR No. 0277; OMB Control No. 2070-0060). In general, the records that are required to be maintained under section 8 of FIFRA are already covered by the Pesticide Registration ICR. In addition, this ICR does not include any estimated burden or costs related to pesticide product labeling, which is not considered to be a collection of information subject to approval under the PRA because the information that must be included as the product labeling has been approved and provided by EPA. In 1995, in the context of the Pesticide Registration ICR, OMB determined that the Agency does not need to estimate burden or costs for the third party disclosure requirement involving the registrant's disclosure of product specific information to potential users and the general public through the pesticide labeling is not considered to be a collection of information subject to approval under the PRA because the information that must be included as the product labeling has been approved and provided to the registrant by EPA. (5 CFR 1320.3(c)(2)). This ICR, therefore, only accounts for the incremental burden of maintaining records related to the foreign labeling, and providing appropriate translations of certain required labeling statements. Burden Statement: The annual respondent burden for this information collection, which is based on a response

consisting of the submission of an FPAS and use of multi-lingual labeling, and varies slightly according to the registration status of the product, is estimated to average about 6.2 hours per response for registered products (1.081 hours for the FPAS+5.083 hours for multi- lingual labeling), and about 6.7 hours per response for unregistered products (1.081 hours for the FPAS+5.583 hours for multi-lingual labeling). The annual respondent cost for this information collection is estimated to average about $492.49 per response for registered products ($74.33 for the FPAS+$418.16 for multi-lingual labeling), and about $553.99 per response for unregistered products ($74.33 for the FPAS+$479.66 for multi-lingual labeling). Under the PRA, ``burden'' means the total time, effort, or financial resources expended by persons to generate, maintain, retain, or disclose or provide information to or for a Federal agency. For this collection it includes the time for reviewing instructions, gathering and maintaining the data needed, and completing and reviewing the collection of information. No person is required to respond to a collection of information subject to approval under the PRA, unless it displays a currently valid OMB control number. The OMB control numbers for EPA regulations, after initially appearing in the Final Rule, are displayed in 40 CFR part 9, and on any applicable information collection instrument. The following is a brief summary of the estimates presented in this ICR: Respondents/Affected Entities: Exporters of pesticide products. Estimated total number of potential Respondents: 2,500. Frequency of Response: As determined by the exporter. Estimated total annual burden hours: 21,451.3. Estimated total annual burden costs: $1,746,536. Changes in Burden Estimates: The change in respondent burden is due to three factors: (1) EPA has revised the burden estimate for the purchaser acknowledgment requirement to reflect the numbers of FPASs submitted to EPA under the revised policy; (2) EPA has also adjusted the estimated burden imposed by the multi-lingual export labeling requirement, which requires exporters to translate the approved label provided by EPA, and (3) the estimated costs have increased significantly due to the use of the labor rates recently supplied by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. However, no changes have been made to the requirements for foreign purchaser acknowledgments. Next Step in the process for this ICR: After providing a 30 day opportunity for additional comments from the public, OMB will review and take action on the Agency's request. If this ICR involves the renewal of a currently approved collection activity for which the renewal request was submitted to OMB before the current approval expires, then the current approval will be extended month-to-month until OMB takes an action on the pending request (see 5 CFR 1320.10(e)(2) and 1320.12(b)(2)). Periodically, EPA publishes a notice in the Federal Register listing recent OMB actions on the Agency's ICR submittals. If you have any questions about this ICR or the approval process, please contact the person listed in the FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT section.

Dated: June 9, 1999. Richard T. Westlund, Acting Director, Regulatory Information Division. [FR Doc. 99-15171 Filed 6-14-99; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 6560-50-U