. /.WORLD TRADE
ORGANIZATIONG/SPS/N/USA/292
16 June 2000
(00-2428)
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:  Dioxin
4. Title and number of pages of the notified document:  Draft Dioxin Reassessment
Documents; Toxicity Equivalence Factors ( TEFs) for Dioxin and Related Compounds and
Integrated Summary and Risk Characteri zation for 2,3,7,8-Tetrachlorodibenzo-p-Dioxin
(TCDD) and Related Compounds - Public Comment Period (3 pages, plus two documents 150
and 80 pages, respectively).
5. Description of content:  The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is announcing that
an EPA contractor will be organizing, convening, and conducting an external peer reviewworkshop to review the external review draft doc uments entitled, Part II. Chapter 9:  Toxicity
Equivalence Factors (TEFs) for Dioxin and Related Compounds (hereafter, TEF chapter) and
Part III. Integrated Summary and Risk Characterization for
2,3,7,8-Tetrachlorodibenzo-p-Dioxin (TCDD) and Related Compounds (hereafter, Integrated
Summary and Risk Characterization).  The EPA is also announcing an extended public
comment period for these two draft documents.  The peer review workshop will be organized,
convened, and conducted by the Eastern Research Group, Inc. (ERG), an EPA contractor forthis external scientific peer review.  The documents were prepared by the EPA's Office of
Research and Development (ORD) and with the involvement of other federal agencies, in
particular the National Institute of Health's National Institute of Environmental Health
Sciences.  EPA will consider the peer revi ew advice and public comment submissions in
revising these draft dioxin reassessment documents in preparation for an upcoming review byEPA's Science Advisory Board (SAB).
The two-day peer review workshop will be held on Tuesday, 25 July 2000, 9 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.
and Wednesday, 26 July 2000, 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.  Members of the public may attend as
observers, and there will be a limited time for comments from the public.  The extended public
comment period begins 12 June 2000, and concludes two weeks following the SAB's peerreview meeting on the dioxin reassessment which is scheduled for October 2000.  The specific
date of that meeting has not been determined. EPA will announce in a subsequent Federal
Register (FR) notice the formal closing date of the public comment period.
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           G/SPS/N/USA/292
Page 2
7. An international standard, guideline or recommendation does not exist [  X ].
If an international standard, guideline or recommendation exists, give the appropriate
reference and briefly identify deviations:  The World Health Organization (WHO) undertook
a review of its previously established Tolerable Daily Intake (TDI) and in 1998 recommended a
lower TDI value based on data available.  The US EPA draft dioxin reassessment discusses theWHO document in relation to EPA’s more recent findings.
8. Relevant documents and language(s) in which these are available: 65 FR 36898,
12 June 2000 (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:  October 2000
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/FSTSDAttn: Carolyn F. Wilson
Room 5545 South Agriculture Building
Stop 1027
1400 Independence Avenue, S.W.
Washington, D.C. 20250Phone (202) 720-2239
Fax (202) 690-0677
E-mail Address: ofsts@fas.usda.gov