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EPA INCREASES FEES FOR PROCESSING TOLERANCE PETITIONS FOR PESTICIDES IN FOOD AND FEED BY 3.68 PERCENT

Release Date: 05/27/99
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FOR RELEASE: THURSDAY, MAY 27 1999

EPA INCREASES FEES FOR PROCESSING TOLERANCE PETITIONS
FOR PESTICIDES IN FOOD AND FEED BY 3.68 PERCENT

EPA has increased the fees charged for processing petitions for pesticide tolerances (legal residue levels) in food and feed by the same 3.68 percent locality-pay increase provided to civilian federal employees in the Washington D.C. area in January. Under the new fee scale, which goes into effect on June 25, the basic fee for establishing a new tolerance will be $68,025. The Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act (FFDCA) authorizes EPA to establish pesticide tolerance levels for raw agricultural commodities and requires the Agency to collect fees to cover, among other things, the costs of processing petitions for tolerances. The regulation governing tolerances provides for automatic annual adjustments to the fees based on annual percentage changes in federal salaries. The increased fees rule was published in the Federal Register on May 26. The fee increases in this rule do not reflect the requirements of FFDCA Section 408(m)(1) as amended by the Food Quality Protection Act (FQPA) of 1996, which states that the Agency shall collect tolerance fees that, in the aggregate, will cover all costs associated with processing tolerance actions. Modifications to the fee schedule to meet the FQPA requirements will be addressed in a separate action.

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