### UNITED STATES ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY WASHINGTON, DC 20460

OFFICE OF CHEMICAL SAFETY AND POLLUTION PREVENTION

MEMORANDUM

Date : April 26, 2 0 16

Subject : Supplementary Guidance for Phase IV of Crop Group Revisions Rule making

From : Susan Lewis, Director Registration Division

To : All RD Staff

The fourth rulemaking to revise the crop g roup s in 40 CFR §180.41 establish es : Leafy Vegetable Crop Group 4

- 16 ; Brassica Head and Stem Vegetable Crop Group 5

- 16 ; Stalk, Stem, and Leaf Petiole Vegetable Crop Group 22; Tropical and Subtropical Fruit, Edible Peel, Crop Group 23; and Tropical and Subtropical Fruit, Inedible Peel, Crop Group 24. Implementation of these new crop
groups will require more planning and ef fort because of the re

- structuring of crop subgroups and several instances where commodities will have different representatives. The attached guidance from HED’s ChemSAC provides an overview of changes and clarifies the implementation strategies
associate d with these new crop groups 1

.
In addition to the ChemSAC memorandum

, RD Management would like to highlight the following points regarding implementation of these new crop g roups :



### • As with the previous phases of this project, w hen an existing crop group is amended in a manner that expands or contracts its coverage of commodities, EPA will retain the pre

existing crop group in § 180.41; insert the revised crop group immediately after the pre

existing crop group in § 180.41; and tit le the revised crop group in a way that clearly differentiates it from the pre

- existing crop group. EPA will initially retain pre

- existing crop groups that have been superseded by revised crop groups

. EPA will not establish new tolerances under the pre

- exi sting groups. However, all existing tolerances will remain until the EPA has assessed any potential risks due to the additional exposures of the new crop s added to the groups and established the appropriate tolerances . EPA plans to eventually

convert tolerances for any pre

- existing crop group t o tolerances with coverage under the revised crop group. This conversion will occur through the registration review process and in the course of evaluating new uses for a pesticide registration when the EPA is pe titioned to

1 11/04 /2015 Memorandum from ChemSAC to Vogel, Dana and Rowland, Jess; “Implementation Guidance for
Phase IV of Crop Group Revisions Rulemaking”Page 2 of 3



### update the crop groups. EPA has encouraged petitioners for tolerances to address crop group conversions in their requests . A PRIA category, R175, was created to address these
conversions.

• C rop group conversions based upon Crop Group 4 and 5 tolerances will not be straightforward and may result in displaced individual commodities. For example, arugula, garden cress , and upland cress were members of S ubgroup 4A ( represented by lettuces and spinach ) that will
become members of Subgroup 4

- 16 B ( represented by mustard greens ), and a conversion request to Crop Subgroup 4

- 16 A would result in the displace ment of those 3 commodities

. Therefore, f or Crop G roups 4 and 5 conversion requests, the EPA will accept the R175 PRIA fee request for the crop group conversion and the establishment of tolerances for those individual displaced
commodities

. The attached Crop Group Conversion Plan for Existing Tolerances as a Result of Creation of New Crop Groups under Phase IV (4

- 16, 5

- 16, and 22) provides guidance the Product Management Teams and registrants can follow for all the existing tolerances involving
G roups/ S ubgroups 4 and 5 currently listed in the 40 CFR 2 3

. The attachment outline s a path forward for registrants to request a crop group conversion as well as tolerances for displaced commodities without incurring additional fees for any of those individual s , thereby ensuring that tools previously in place for minor use growers are not lo st in the conversion process.

• The Groups 4 and 5 conversion plan attachment also allows the establishment of a tolerance for Stalk and Stem Vegetable Subgroup 22A for specific cases where a tolerance was previously established on asparagus and individual tolerances would otherwise be established on one or more displaced commodities that will be members of the subgroup (kohlrabi, celtuce or Florence fennel). In these specific cases, the EPA will convert the individual tolerance for asparagus to
Stalk and St em Vegetable Subgroup 22A , instead of establishing individual tolerances for kohlrabi, celtuce or Florence fennel. Asparagus is the representative commodity for Subgroup 22A, and establishing the subgroup tolerance rather than maintaining individual tolera nces on the representative commodity and establishing additional individual, displaced tolerances will avoid confusion and allow for streamlining of processes.

• The proposed tolerance levels discussed in the Groups 4 and 5 conversion plan a ttachment are based up on the existing tolerances in 40 CFR §180 . EPA will consider revising these tolerances in order to align with i nternational tolerances

.

• Historically, HED has recommended individual tolerances for several tropical and subtropical
commodities based upon commodity definitions and residue data extrapolations contained in a
Reviewer’s Guide 4

. RD will no longer establish tolerances based upon these extrapolations or

2 11/03 /2015. “Crop Group Conversion Plan for Existing Tolerances as a Result of Creation of New Crop Groups under Phase IV (4

- 16 , 5

- 16 , and 22).”

3 4/12/2016. “Addendum. Crop Group Conversion Plan for Existing Tolerance s as a Result of Creation of New Crop Groups under Phase IV (4

- 16, 5

- 16, and 22).”

4 06/14/2006. Memorandum from Schneider, Bernard to Madden, Barbara. “Reviewer’s Guide and Summary of HED ChemSAC Approvals for Amending Crop Group/Subgroups [40 CFR 180.41] and Commodity Definitions [40 CFR 180.1(h)].”Page 3 of 3

commodit y definitions

. Moving forward, t ropical and subtropical fruit tolerances will be
established based upon the representative commodities for Crop Groups 23 and 24.

• Although EPA will no longer recommend or establish individual tropical and subtropical fruit commodity tolerances based on the Reviewer’s Guide, the Agency does not believe that the
tolerances established based on the Guide underestimate potential residues. Therefore, th ose individual tolerances based on the Reviewer’s Guide will not be retroactively altered or removed

. A list of these tolera nces , by active ingredient, is provided in an attachment 5 in order to provide
reviewers with additional information

.

• Watercress will become a member of Crop Group 4

- 16 , in Subgroup 4

- 16 B. The EPA has reviewed the requirement of a chemical

- specific watercress aquatic dissipation study, as outlined 40 CFR §180.158.1300

- Environmental Fate . Because of the limited acreage of watercress grown in the U.S., EPA has determined that it will waive the requirement of a chemical

- specific aqu atic dissipation study specifically for watercress. 6 EPA may conduct conservative screening

- level assessments and model application scenarios to water such as the Tier I Rice Model (or Modified Cranberry Model), or the Tier II Pesticides in Flooded Applica tion Model (PFAM) to estimate exposures to drinking water and ecological receptors based on applications to watercress

.

• When registrants petition for use on Crop Group 4

- 16 or Subgroup 4

- 16B, including watercress
, they should list specific crop use direct ions on the proposed product label for watercress

. Though watercress will be listed with the entire group/subgroup and the general use directions will be the same as all other crops within the group or subgroup, the label directions must clearly state that growers should not be making applications directly to water , e.g. “ 

### For applications made to watercress, production fields must be drained of water at least 24 hours prior to application and water must not be reapplied to the field for a minimum of 24 hours following the application” . If the label does not specify that applications are not to be made with field while water is present , then the Agency will assess watercress as direct applications to water.

A detailed account of the changes for the Phase IV rulemaking will be available at www.regulations.gov in docket: EPA

- HQ

- OPP

- 2006

- 0766. If you have any questions or concerns regarding the implementation of the fourth phase of crop group r evisions, please cont act B arbara Madden, madden.barbara@epa.gov

.

5 11/03 /2015. “Crop Group Conversion Plan for Existing Tolerances as a Result of Creation of New Crop Groups under Phase IV (Groups 23, 24).”

6 12/02/15. “ Recommendation for a General Waiver for the Aquatic Field Dissipation Study Requirement for Proposed Watercress Uses”