On January 26, 2010, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Office of Pesticide Programs (OPP) announced that it intends to issue a cancellation order for the pesticide spirotetramat pursuant to Section 6(a)(1) of the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA). A comment period is now open on the existing stocks provisions of the planned cancellation order. Comments are due February 8, 2010.
EPA states that, on December 23, 2009, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York vacated all federal registrations for spirotetramat products. The court based its decision on EPA’s failure to provide an opportunity for comment on the applications for those registrations before EPA granted them. The vacatur is currently stayed until February 16, 2010; when the stay is lifted, the spirotetramat registrations will cease to be valid under FIFRA. At that time, EPA intends to issue a cancellation order that will establish provisions governing the disposition of existing stocks of previously registered spirotetramat pesticide product already in the channels of trade. EPA is seeking comment on how EPA should treat the sale, distribution, and/or use of existing stocks of spirotetramat in the cancellation order.
EPA states that, due to the short time before vacatur of the registrations will take effect, EPA is publishing this notice on its website rather than in the Federal Register. Because of the need to consider the comments quickly to issue a cancellation order as early as February 16, 2010, EPA requests that comments not include any material that must be treated as confidential business information. The court’s decision and EPA’s response to it could have implications for other registrations that may be alleged to be subject to similar procedural deficiencies.
More information about the Notice of Cancellation Order is available online.