DocketNumber: EPA-HQ-OPP-2014-0577 www.regulations.gov



## Diclofop-methyl Notice ofRegistration Review Case Closure Case Number 2160 June 2015

"chard P. Keigwm, Jr. irector, Pesticide Re-evaluation Division
Date: 

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# S IINTRODUCTION This is the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA or the Agency) Registration Review Case Closure for diclofop-methyl (registration review docket EPA-HQ-OPP2014-0577). Diclofop-methyl is an herbicide which was previously registered for use on wheat, barley, and golfcourse turf, but for which all registrations have been canceled as discussed below. The Agency is implementing the registration review program pursuant to Section 3(g) ofthe Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA), and will review each registered pesticide every 15 years to determine whether it continues to meet the FIFRA standard for registration. Changes in science, public policy, and pesticide use practices occur over time. The registration review program is intended to make sure that, as the ability to assess risk evolves and as policies and practices change, all registered pesticides continue to meet the statutory standard. The public phase ofregistration review begins when the initial docket is opened for each case. Information on this program is provided onthe Agency's website 1• Pursuant to 40 CFR 155.50, the Agency formally initiated registration review for diclofop-methyl (case 2160). The following timeline highlights significant events that have occurred during the registration review ofdiclofop-methyl:
• September 24, 2014- Publication ofthe Diclofop-methylPreliminary Work Plan, Scoping Document , and Problem Formulation Document in the registration review docket (EPA-HQ-OPP-2014-0577) for a 60-day public comment period.
• October 23, 2014- Bayer CropScience and Bayer Environmental Science, the technical and end-use product registrants, respectively, requested to voluntarily cancel all oftheir diclofop-methyl product registrations. These were the last three diclofop-methyl products registered for use in the United States.
• February 11 , 2015- Published a Notice ofReceipt ofRequests to Voluntarily Cancel Certain Pesticide Registrations for Diclofop-methyl inthe Federal Register (78 FR 53141; FRL-9396-4). No substantive comments were received during the 30-day comment period.
• June 10, 2015- Published the Diclofop-methyl; Product Cancellation Order for Certain Pesticide Registrations in the Federal Register (80 FR 32949; FRL-9928- 03). BACKGROUND INFORMATION In October 2014, the technical and end-use product registrants, Bayer CropScience and Bayer Environmental Science informed the Agency that they were

1 http://www.epa.gov/oppsrrdl/registration _review/
2requesting to voluntarily cancel all diclofop-methyl product registrations. Following publication ofa Federal Register notice announcing receipt ofthose requests and the end ofthe public commentperiod, the Agency issued the product cancellation order on June 10, 2015 for all diclofop-methyl product registrations. The effective cancellation date is January 1, 2018. (Copies ofthose notices are included inthe docket for this registration review.) Existing stocks provisions included in the order allow the registrant to sell and distribute diclofop-methyl products (EPA Reg. Nos. 264-641 , 264-642, and 432-1231) until January 1, 2018
. After that date, persons other than the registrant may continue to sell, distribute, and use diclofop-methyl products until exhausted, provided that such sale, distribution, and use is consistent with the terms ofthe previously approved labeling on, or that accompanied, the cancelled products. 

### REGISTRATION REVIEW CASE CLOSURE As stated in the Preliminary Work Plan for diclofop-methyl, the Agency had intended to call in data and revise the existing risk assessments for diclofop-methyl. However, following publication ofthe PWP, all U.S. diclofop-methyl product registrations were voluntarily cancelled effective January 1, 2018. Therefore, due to the cancellation ofall diclofop-methyl product registrations in the United States, updated risk assessments and additional data are no longer required and the Agency is closing the registration review case. The Agency does not expect the current risks associated with diclofop-methyl use to differ substantially from those identified during the diclofop-methyl reregistration process. In order to mitigate the risks identified in the Reregistration Eligibility Decision document (RED), the Agency specified mitigation measures in the RED, which are already in effect on diclofop-methyl product labels
. The existing stocks sales and distribution deadlines included inthe June 10, 2015 cancellation order ensure that diclofop-methyl sale, distribution, and use will decline and then cease entirely inthe United States in the future
. During this period, given the mitigation measures that are specified in the RED and are currently in place, the Agency believes that existing stocks ofdiclofop-methyl products may be used until depleted without causing unreasonable risk to human health and the environment. Pursuantto 40 CFR § 155.42(c), which provides that the Agency "will close a registration review case ifall products in the case are canceled," the Agency is closing the registration review case for diclofop-methyl, thus concluding the diclofop

-methyl registration review.

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