Agency Information Collection Activities; Submission to OMB; Comment Request; Pesticide Product Registration Maintenance Fee

AGENCY:

Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION:

Notice.

SUMMARY:

In compliance with the Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA) (44 U.S.C. 3501 et seq.), this document announces that the following Information Collection Request (ICR) has been forwarded to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review and approval: Pesticide Product Registration Maintenance Fee; EPA ICR Number: 1214.06; OMB Control Number: 2070-0100. The ICR, which is abstracted below, describes the nature of the information collection activity and its expected burden and costs.

DATES:

Additional comments may be submitted on or before February 26, 2004.

ADDRESSES:

Submit your comments, referencing docket ID number OPP-2003-0085, to (1) EPA online using EDOCKET (our preferred method), by e-mail to opp-docket@epa.gov, or by mail to: Public Information and Records Integrity Branch (PIRIB), Office of Pesticide Programs (OPP), Environmental Protection Agency, Mailcode: 7502C, 1200 Pennsylvania Ave., NW., Washington, DC 20460, and (2) OMB at: Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, Office of Management and Budget (OMB), Attention: Desk Officer for EPA, 725 17th Street, NW., Washington, DC 20503.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Nancy Vogel, Field and External Affairs Division (7506C), Office of Pesticide Programs, Environmental Protection Agency, 1200 Pennsylvania Ave., NW., Washington, DC 20460; telephone number: (703) 305-6475; fax number: (703) 305-5884; e-mail address: vogel.nancy@epa.gov.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

EPA has submitted the following ICR to OMB for review and approval according to the procedures prescribed in 5 CFR 1320.12. The Federal Register document, required under 5 CFR 1320.8(d), soliciting comments on this collection of information was published on April 2, 2003 (68 FR 16023). EPA received no comments on this ICR during the 60-day comment period.

EPA has established a public docket for this ICR under Docket ID No. OPP-2003-0085, which is available for public viewing at the Public Information and Records Integrity Branch (PIRIB), Rm. 119, Crystal Mall #2, 1921 Jefferson Davis Hwy., Arlington, VA. This docket facility is open from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m., Monday through Friday, excluding legal holidays. The docket telephone number is (703) 305-5805. An electronic version of the public docket is available through EPA Dockets (EDOCKET) at http://www.epa.gov/edocket . Use EDOCKET to submit or view public comments, access the index listing of the contents of the public docket, and to access those documents in the public docket that are available electronically. Once in the system, select “search,” then key in the docket ID number identified above.

Any comments related to this ICR should be submitted to EPA and OMB within 30 days of this notice. Please note, EPA's policy is that public comments, whether submitted electronically or in paper, will be made available for public viewing in EDOCKET as EPA receives them and without change, unless the comment contains copyrighted material, CBI, or other information whose public disclosure is restricted by statute. When EPA identifies a comment containing copyrighted material, EPA will provide a reference to that material in the version of the comment that is placed in EDOCKET. The entire printed comment, including the copyrighted material, will be available in the public docket. Although identified as an item in the official docket, information claimed as CBI, or whose disclosure is otherwise restricted by statute, is not included in the official public docket, and will not be available for public viewing in EDOCKET. For further information about the electronic docket, see EPA's Federal Register notice describing the electronic docket at 67 FR 38102 (May 31, 2002), or go to http://www.epa.gov/edocket .

ICR Title: Pesticide Product Registration Maintenance Fee (EPA ICR 1214.06, OMB Control No. 2070-0100).

ICR Status: This is a request for extension of an existing approved collection that is currently scheduled to expire on January 31, 2004. EPA is asking OMB to approve this ICR for three years. Under 5 CFR 1320.12(b)(2), the Agency may continue to conduct or sponsor the collection of information while the submission is pending at OMB.

Abstract: This information collection activity provides the Agency with the means to collect registration maintenance fees from pesticide registrants as required by law. Respondents complete and submit EPA Form 8570-30, indicating their liability for the registration maintenance fee. No changes in the substance or in the method of collection is proposed in this ICR renewal request. Each affected firm is required to complete the filing form and submit their fee payment by January 15 of each year.

Every year, the Agency provides registrants a list of the registered products currently registered with the Agency. Registrants are provided the opportunity to review the list, determine its accuracy, and remit payment of the maintenance fee. The list of products has space identified for marking those products to be supported and those products that are to be canceled. The registrants are also instructed to identify any products on the list which they believe to be transferred to another company, and to add to the list any products which the company believes to be registered that are not on the Agency-provided list. The failure to pay the required fee for a product will result in cancellation of that product.

Burden Statement: The annual “respondent” burden for this ICR is estimated to be 1,763 hours. According to the Paperwork Reduction Act, “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 is the time reading the regulations, planning the necessary data collection activities, conducting tests, analyzing data, generating reports and completing other required paperwork, and storing, filing, and maintaining the data. The agency may not conduct or sponsor, and a person is not required to respond to, a collection of information unless it displays a currently valid OMB control number. The OMB control number for this information collection appears at the beginning and the end of this document. In addition OMB control numbers for EPA's regulations, after initial display in the final rule, are listed in 40 CFR part 9.

The following is a summary of the burden estimates taken from the ICR:

• Respondents/affected entities: Pesticide registrants.
• Estimated total number of potential respondents: 1,900.
• Frequency of response: Annual.
• Estimated total/average number of responses for each respondent: 1.
• Estimated total annual burden hours: 1,763 hours.
• Estimated total annual burden costs: $178,690.

Changes in the ICR Since the Last Approval: The total estimated annual respondent cost for this ICR has decreased by 95 hours (from 1,858 to 1,763), due mainly to a decrease in the number of responses expected. Although the number of responses have decreased over those in the previous ICR, estimated costs have increased by about $820 (from roughly $177,871 to $178,690) because of an increase in the estimated labor rates for respondents. These changes are explained more fully in the ICR.

According to the procedures prescribed in 5 CFR 1320.12, EPA has submitted this ICR to OMB for review and approval. Any comments related to the renewal of this ICR should be submitted within 30 days of this notice, as described above.