[Code of Federal Regulations]

[Title 40, Volume 23]

[Revised as of July 1, 2006]

From the U.S. Government Printing Office via GPO Access

[CITE: 40CFR180.40]



[Page 324-325]

 

                   TITLE 40--PROTECTION OF ENVIRONMENT

 

         CHAPTER I--ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY (CONTINUED)

 

PART 180_TOLERANCES AND EXEMPTIONS FROM TOLERANCES FOR PESTICIDE 

CHEMICALS IN FOOD--Table of Contents

 

                    Subpart B_Procedural Regulations

 

Sec.  180.40  Tolerances for crop groups.



    (a) Group or subgroup tolerances may be established as a result of:

    (1) A petition from a person who has submitted an application for 

the registration of a pesticide under the Federal Insecticide, 

Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act.

    (2) On the initiative of the Administrator.

    (3) A petition by an interested person.

    (b) The tables in Sec.  180.41 are to be used in conjunction with 

this section for the establishment of crop group tolerances. Each table 

in Sec.  180.41 lists a group of raw agricultural commodities that are 

considered to be related for the purposes of this section. Refer also to 

Sec.  180.1(h) for a listing of commodities for which established 

tolerances may be applied to certain other related and similar 

commodities.

    (c) When there is an established or proposed tolerance for all of 

the representative commodities for a specific group or subgroup of 

related commodities, a tolerance may be established for all commodities 

in the associated group or subgroup. Tolerances may be established for a 

crop group or, alternatively, tolerances may be established for one or 

more of the subgroups of a crop group.

    (d) The representative crops are given as an indication of the 

minimum residue chemistry data base acceptable to the Agency for the 

purposes of establishing a group tolerance. The Agency may, at its 

discretion, allow group tolerances when data on suitable substitutes for 

the representative crops are available (e.g., limes instead of lemons).

    (e) Since a group tolerance reflects maximum residues likely to 

occur on



[[Page 325]]



all individual crops within a group, the proposed or registered patterns 

of use for all crops in the group or subgroup must be similar before a 

group tolerance is established. The pattern of use consists of the 

amount of pesticide applied, the number of times applied, the timing of 

the first application, the interval between applications, and the 

interval between the last application and harvest. The pattern of use 

will also include the type of application; for example, soil or foliar 

application, or application by ground or aerial equipment.

    (f) When the crop grouping contains commodities or byproducts that 

are utilized for animal feed, any needed tolerance or exemption from a 

tolerance for the pesticide in meat, milk, poultry and/or eggs must be 

established before a tolerance will be granted for the group as a whole. 

The representative crops include all crops in the group that could be 

processed such that residues may concentrate in processed food and/or 

feed. Processing data will be required prior to establishment of a group 

tolerance. Tolerances will not be granted on a group basis as to 

processed foods prepared from crops covered by the group tolerance.

    (g) If maximum residues (tolerances) for the representative crops 

vary by more than a factor of 5 from the maximum value observed for any 

crop in the group, a group or subgroup tolerance will ordinarily not be 

established. In this case individual crop tolerances, rather than group 

tolerances, will normally be established.

    (h) Alternatively, a commodity with a residue level significantly 

higher or lower than the other commodities in a group may be excluded 

from the group tolerance (e.g., cereal grains, except corn). In this 

case an individual tolerance at the appropriate level for the unique 

commodity would be established, if necessary. The alternative approach 

of excluding a commodity with a significantly higher or lower residue 

level will not be used to establish a tolerance for a commodity 

subgroup. Most subgroups have only two representative commodities; to 

exclude one such commodity and its related residue data would likely 

provide insufficient residue information to support the remainder of the 

subgroup. Residue data from crops additional to those representative 

crops in a grouping may be required for systemic pesticides.

    (i) The commodities included in the groups will be updated 

periodically either at the initiative of the Agency or at the request of 

an interested party. Persons interested in updating this section should 

contact the Registration Division of the Office of Pesticide Programs.

    (j) Establishment of a tolerance does not substitute for the 

additional need to register the pesticide under a companion law, the 

Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act. The Registration 

Division of the Office of Pesticide Programs should be contacted 

concerning procedures for registration of new uses of a pesticide.



[60 FR 26635, May 17, 1995, as amended at 70 FR 33363, June 8, 2005]