. /.WORLD TRADE
ORGANIZATIONG/SPS/N/USA/583
24 April 2002
(02-2348)
Committee on Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures Original:  English
NOTIFICATION
1. Member to Agreement notifying:  UNITED STATES
If applicable, name of local government involved:           
2. Agency responsible:  Environmental Protection Agency - EPA
3. Products covered (provide tariff item number(s) as specified in national schedules
deposited with the WTO; ICS numbers may be provided in addition, where
applicable).  Regions or countries likely to be affected, to the extent relevant or
practicable:  Pesticide
4. Title and number of pages of the notified document:  Notice of Filing Pesticide Petitions
to Establish a Tolerance for Certain Pesticide Chemicals in or on Food - Glyphosate(6 pages)
5. Description of content:   This Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) notice announces
the initial filing of pesticide petitions proposing the establishment of regulations for residues
of certain pesticide chemicals in or on various food commodities.
EPA has received several pesticide petitions proposing, pursuant to section 408(d) of the
Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FFDCA ), 21 U.S.C. 346a(d), to amend 40 CFR part
180 by establishing several tolerances for residues of glyphosate (N-(phosphonomethyl)glycine). In the Federal Register of 25 July 2000 EPA issued a notice (notified to the WTO
as G/SPS/N/USA/312) pursuant to section 408 of the FFDCA   announcing the filing of a
pesticide petition for tolerance by the petitioner; that petition has been amended and is
accordingly re-notified.  The petitioner requests that 40 CFR 180.364 be amended by
establishing tolerances for residues of glyphosate (N-(phosphonomethyl) glycine) per se
resulting from the application of glyphosate, the isopropylamine salt of glyphosate, the
ethanolamine salt of glyphosate, the potassium salt of glyphosate, and/or the ammonium saltof glyphosate in or on the listed raw agricultural commodities, (RACs) to include: grass,
forage, fodder, and hay group at 300 parts per million (ppm); aspirated grain fractions at
100 ppm; corn, field, forage at 6.0 ppm; wheat, forage at 10.0 ppm; wheat, hay at 10.0 ppm;
animal feeds, nongrass group at 400 ppm; rice, grain at 15.0 ppm; rice, bran at 30.0 ppm;
and rice, hulls at 25.0 ppm and to increase the established tolerance for wheat, grain to6.0 ppm.  In addition the petitioner requests to revise the present tolerance for cereal grains
group to be "grain, cereal group (except barley, field corn, grain sorghum, oats, rice, and
wheat)".  Finally, the petitioner seeks to delete the existing tolerance for soybean, aspirated
grain fractions at 50.0 ppm since this tolerance will be included in the "aspirated grain
fractions'' described above, and the petitioner seeks to delete the existing tolerance foranimal, feeds, nongrass group (except alfalfa), which will be included in the above proposed
"animal feeds, nongrass group" tolerance.
The tolerances proposed for rice and wheat commodities, and the grass, forage, fodder, and
hay group include both conventional and glyphosate tolerant rice, wheat, and creeping
bentgrass. EPA has determined that the petitions  contains data or information regarding the
elements set forth in section 408(d)(2) of th e FFDCA; however, EPA has not fully evaluated
the sufficiency of the submitted data at this time or whether the data supports granting of the
petitions. Additional data may be needed before EPA rules on the petitions.G/SPS/N/USA/583
Page 2
6. Objective and rationale:  [  X ] food safety,  [     ] animal health,  [     ] plant protection,
[    ] protect humans from animal/plant pest or disease, [     ] protect territory from
other damage from pests           
7. An international standard, guideline or recommendation does not exist [    ].
If an international standard, guideline or recommendation exists, give the appropriate
reference and briefly identify deviations:  Several maximum residue limits (MRLs) for
glyphosate have been established by Codex in or on various commodities.  These limits arebased on the residue definition of glyphosate per se, without reference to the cation used in
product formulations.  Based on toxicological considerations, EPA has determined that
AMPA no longer needs to be regulated and has deleted AMPA from the US tolerance
expression, so that the US residue definiti on is harmonized with that of Codex.  The
proposed rice grain tolerance of 15.0 ppm, is based on crop field trial data obtained using
glyphosate-tolerant rice and therefore cannot be lowered to maintain harmonization with the
Codex MRL of 0.1 ppm, for residues of glyphosate in or on this commodity.  A CodexMRL exists for "hay or fodder (dry) of grasses" at 50.0 ppm, and on "maize forage" at
1.0 ppm, however the proposed US tolerance for "grass, forage, fodder, and hay group" at
300 ppm, and "corn, field, forage" at 6.0 ppm, are based on higher application rates than
those used in the residue studies considered by Codex, so that harmonization cannot be
maintained in these cases. Other than for these specific commodities, the agreement
between US tolerances and Codex internatio nal residue standards is unaffected by this
action.
8. Relevant documents and language(s) in which these are available:  67 FR 18894
17 April 2002 (Available in English)
9. Proposed date of adoption:  To be determined.
10. Proposed date of entry into force:  To be determined.
11. Final date for comments:  Comments must be received on or before 17 May 2002.
Agency or authority designated to handle comments:  Environmental Protection Agency
[    ] National notification authority, [     ] National enquiry point, or address, fax
number and E-mail address (if available) of other body:  Detailed instruction on where
and how to send comments is in the body of the full text which will be sent upon request to
the address in paragraph 12.
12. Texts available from: [  X ] National notification authority, [  X ] National enquiry point
or address, fax number and E-mail address (if available) of other body:
United States SPS Enquiry Point/Notification Authority
USDA/FAS/FSTSD
ATTN:  Carolyn F. Wilson
Room 5545 South Agriculture Building
Stop 1027
1400 Independence Avenue, S.W.Washington, D.C. 20250
Tel:   (202) 720-2239
Fax:  (202) 690-0677
E-mail:  ofsts@fas.usda.gov