. /.   WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  G/SPS/N/USA/1397 
28 August 2006 
 (06-4043) 
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):  All pesticide products  
4. Regions or countries likely to be affected, to the extent relevant or practicable:  Any 
US trade partners  
5. Title, language and number of p ages of the notified document:  Notice.   Final NAFTA 
Guidance for Conducting Terrestrial Field Dissipation Studies (Available in English, 2 pages).  
6. Description of content:  Under the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), EPA 
and the Canadian Pest Management Regulatory Agency (PMRA) have agreed to harmonize their testing guidelines so that one set of tests can be used for the registration of pesticides 
in Canada and the United States.  The NAFTA  harmonized guidance for terrestrial field 
dissipation (TFD) studies are conducted to dem onstrate the transformation, transport, and 
fate of pesticides under representative actual u se conditions.  These field studies are needed 
to substantiate the physicochemical, mobilit y, and biotransformation data from laboratory 
studies. Environmental fate studies have show n that pesticide dissipation may proceed at 
different rates under field conditions and may resu lt in degradates forming at levels different 
from those observed in laboratory studies.  The objective of this guidance document is to 
help ensure that TFD studies are conducted in a manner that will provide risk assessors and 
risk managers with more confidence in the da ta generated and with a better understanding 
of the assumptions and limitations of the data a nd estimated half-lives of the pesticide.  The 
proposed guidance document for TFD studies w as published in the Federal Register on 
15 June 2005 (FRL-7713-7).  After reviewing the public comments for this Notice, EPA 
developed a final guidance docum ent, which can be found at: 
http://www.epa.gov/oppefed1/ecorisk_ders/terr estrial_field_dissipation _guidance.pdf . 
EPA's response to public comments can be  found in the public docket: EPA-HQ-OPP-2005-
0129. 
7. Objective and rationale: [ X ] food safety,  [ X ] animal health,  [ X ] plant protection, 
[ X ] protect humans from animal/plant pest or disease, [   ] protect territory from other damage from pests   G/SPS/N/USA/1397 
Page 2  
 
  8. International standard, guideline or recommendation: 
[   ] Codex Alimentarius Commission,  [   ] World Organization for Animal Health 
(OIE), [   ] International Plant Protection Convention,  [ X ] None 
If an international standard, guideline or recommendation exists, give the appropriate 
reference and briefly identify deviations:   
9. Relevant documents and language(s) in which these are available:  Federal Register: 
11 August 2006 (Volume 71, Number 155) Pages 46226-46227, 
http://www.epa.gov/fedrgstr/EPA- PEST/2006/August/Day-11/p13042.htm  
Available in English.  
10. Proposed date of adoption:  11 August 2006 
11. Proposed date of entry into force:  11 August 2006.   The proposed guidance document for 
TFD studies was published in the Federal Register on 15 June 2005.  
12. Final date for comments:  Comments should be received on or before 11 October 2006.  
Agency or authority designated to handle comments:  [   ] National notification 
authority, [ X ] National enquiry point, or address, fax number and E-mail address (if 
available) of other body:  Environmental Fate and Effect s Division (7507P), Office of 
Pesticide Programs, Environmental Protection Agency, 1200 Pennsylvania Ave., NW., 
Washington, DC 20460-0001  
13. Texts available from:  [ X ] National notifi cation authority, [   ] National enquiry 
point, or address, fax number and E-mail address (if available) of other body:  Ms Deborah Thompson, United States SPS Nati onal Notification Authority, USDA Foreign 
Agricultural Service, Food Safety & Technical Services Division, Stop 1027, Washington D.C. 20250.  Tel:  202-720-1301;  Fax:  202-690-0677;  E-mail:  fstsd@fas.usda.gov