[Code of Federal Regulations]
[Title 40, Volume 21]
[Revised as of July 1, 2003]
From the U.S. Government Printing Office via GPO Access
[CITE: 40CFR173.7]

[Page 269-270]
 
                   TITLE 40--PROTECTION OF ENVIRONMENT
 
         CHAPTER I--ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY (CONTINUED)
 
PART 173--PROCEDURES GOVERNING THE RESCISSION OF STATE PRIMARY ENFORCEMENT 
RESPONSIBILITY FOR PESTICIDE USE VIOLATIONS--Table of Contents
 
Sec. 173.7  Hearing and recommended decision.

    (a) The Presiding Officer shall:
    (1) Conduct a fair and impartial hearing, without unnecessary delay;
    (2) Ensure that the facts are fully elicited; and
    (3) Consider all evidence, comment, and argument which is submitted 
by persons who will be affected by the outcome of the proceeding and 
which is not irrelevant, immaterial, unduly repetitious, or otherwise 
unreliable or of little probative value. The Presiding Officer may 
require any prospective witness to make available, in advance of the 
hearing, a brief summary of his or her testimony.
    (b) If, following the close of the hearing, the Presiding Officer 
finds that the State has corrected, or has agreed in writing to correct, 
the deficiencies specified in the notice of intent to rescind or has 
shown that such deficiencies do not exist, the Presiding Officer shall 
issue a decision recommending that the notice of intent to

[[Page 270]]

rescind be withdrawn and that the rescission proceeding be terminated.
    (c) If, following the close of the hearing, the Presiding Officer 
finds that the State has not corrected the deficiencies in its program, 
the Presiding Officer shall issue a decision recommending that the 
State's primary enforcement responsibility for pesticide use violations 
be rescinded in whole or in part.
    (d) The recommended decision of the Presiding Officer shall become 
final Agency action forty-five (45) days after its service upon the 
parties and without further proceedings unless (1) an appeal to the 
Administrator is taken from it by a party to the proceeding, or (2) the 
Administrator elects, sua sponte, to review the recommended decision.