. /.   WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  G/SPS/N/USA/1618 
20 June 2007  
 (07-2610) 
Committee on Sanitary a nd 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 should be provided in addition, where 
applicable):  Apple, cherry, cranberry, grape, nectarine, peach, pear, mango, bean, 
cabbage, lettuce, raspberry, guava, pa paya, asparagus, cucumber, tomato 
4. Regions or countries likely to be affected , to the extent relevant or practicable :  Any 
US trade partners  
5. Title, language and number of pages of the notified document:  PROPOSED RULE. 
Amitraz, Atrazine, Ethephon, Ferbam, Linda ne, Propachlor, and Simazine; Proposed 
Tolerance Actions (available in English, 13 pages) 
6. Description of content:  By means of this rule and on the basis of available date, the 
Agency proposes the following ch anges to existing federal regulations for the pesticide 
ferbam: 
Tolerances for residues of ferbam in or on food and feed commodities are currently 
established for residues of the fungicide ferbam (ferric dimethyldithiocarbamate), 
calculated as zinc ethylenebisdithiocarbamate  (zineb). Current analytical methodology 
employs common moiety detection in which dithiocarbamate residues are converted to carbon disulfide (CS2).  Based on this new me thodology, the Agency has determined that 
the tolerance expression should reflect residues of ferbam (ferric dimethyldithiocarbamate), calculated as carbon disulfide. Therefore, EPA is proposing to modify the tolerance 
expression to residues of the fungicide ferbam  (ferric dimethyldithiocarbamate) calculated 
as carbon disulfide. 
EPA is proposing to decrease the tolerances on "apple", "cherry", "c ranberry", "grape", 
"nectarine", "peach", and "pear", each to 4.0 ppm; "fruit, citrus" to 4.0 ppm; revise the 
commodity terminology for fruit, citrus to read "fruit, citrus, group 10" to decrease the 
tolerance on mango to 4.0 ppm and recodify the entry for mango. 
EPA is proposing to revoke the tolerances fo r residues of ferbam on "bean", "cabbage", 
"lettuce", and "raspberry" with an expirati on/revocation date of 27 October 2007.  
EPA is proposing to revoke the tolerances on guava and papaya, asparagus, cucumber, and 
tomato. G/SPS/N/USA/1618 
Page 2  
 
  7. Objective and rationale:  [ X ] food safety, [ ] animal health, [ X ] plant protection, 
[ X ] protect humans from animal/plant pest  or disease, [ ] protect territory from 
other damage from pests    
8. International standard, guideline or recommendation:  
[ X ] Codex Alimentarius Commission, [ ] World Organization for Animal Health 
(OIE), [ ] International Plant Protection Convention, [ ] None  
If an international standard, guideline or recommendation exists, give the 
appropriate reference and briefly identify deviations:   There are no Codex Maximum 
Residue Limits (MRLs) for ferbam use pe r se. However, Codex MRLs exist for the 
dithiocarbamates from the use of various dith iocarbamates and they are currently expressed 
as total dithiocarbamates, determined or carbon disulfide (milligrams/kilogram (mg/kg)). 
The proposed modification of the US tolerance expression for ferbam to be calculated as 
carbon disulfide will improve the comparison between US tolerances on ferbam with 
Codex MRLs on total dithiocarbamates.  The proposed US tolerances of 4.0 ppm for 
ferbam residues (calculated as carbon disulfide)  on cranberry and citrus fruit are different 
from the Codex MRLs of 5.0 and 10.0 mg/kg fo r total dithiocarbamate residues (calculated 
as carbon disulfide) on cranberry and mandarin,  respectively.  The difference may reflect 
different use patterns in the United States whic h support a different tolerance level and/or 
result from Codex's inclusion of various dith iocarbamates in its tolerance definition. 
9. Relevant documents and language(s) in which these are available:  Federal Register: 
13 June 2007 (Volume 72, Number 113) Proposed Rules Page 32570-32582; 
http://www.epa.gov/fedrgstr/EPA-PEST/2007/June/Day-13/p11324.htm 
10. Proposed date of adoption:  N/A 
11. Proposed date of entry into force:  13 August 2007 
12. Final date for comments:  Comments must be received on or before 13 August 2007, and 
may be identified by docket number EPA-HQ-OPP-2007-0187. 
Agency or authority designated to handl e comments:  [ ] National notification 
authority, [ X ] National enquiry point, or address, fax number and E-mail address (if 
available) of other body:   Registration Division, (7505P), Office of Pesticide Programs, 
Environmental Protection Agency, 1200 Pennsylvania Ave., NW., Washington, DC 20460-0001 
13. Texts available from:  [ X ] National notification authority, [ ] National enquiry point, 
or address, fax number and E-mail add ress (if available) of other body:   United States 
SPS National Notification Authority, USDA Fore ign Agricultural Service, International 
Regulations and Standards Division (IRSD), St op 1027, Washington D.C. 20250;  Tel:  +(1 
202) 720-1301;  Fax:  +(1 202) 690- 0677;  E-mail:  fstsd@fas.usda.gov