§ 168.75 Procedures for exporting unregistered pesticides—purchaser acknowledgement statements.

This section describes how EPA interprets and will enforce requirements of FIFRA section 17(a)(2). Section 17(a)(2) provides that any person exporting a pesticide other than a pesticide registered for use under FIFRA section 3 or sold under FIFRA section 6(a)(1), shall obtain a statement signed by the foreign purchaser prior to export, acknowledging that the purchaser understands that such pesticide is not registered for use in the United States and cannot be sold in the United States. Section 17(a)(2) requires that a copy of the statement be transmitted to an appropriate official of the government of the importing country.

(a) Products subject to the requirement. EPA will not consider an exporter of an unregistered pesticide to be in violation of FIFRA section 17(a)(2) if, prior to export of the pesticide, the exporter submits to EPA a statement signed by the foreign purchaser which affirms that the purchaser is aware that the pesticide is not registered for use in the United States and cannot be sold for use in the United States. The exporter must also include with the submission of the purchaser acknowledgement statement to EPA, a certification signed by the exporter affirming that the export did not occur until the statement signed by the foreign purchaser was obtained by the exporter. Except as provided in paragraph (b) of this section, all pesticide products produced for export which cannot be sold for use in the United States in the form that they are produced for export, are considered to be unregistered pesticides. This includes pesticides which are of a different formulation, including composition (except for variation within certified limits), or type of formulation, and pesticides which are packaged for use patterns for which they are not registered, which may be evidenced by package type or label use statements. This also includes unregistered products which are under development as pesticidal products and which are being exported for research testing.

(b) Exceptions. Under the specific circumstances discussed below, EPA will not treat a registered product which has been modified slightly for export purposes, as unregistered for the purposes of the purchaser acknowledgement statement requirement. Any changes to the registered product for export purposes must be documented in accordance with the record-keeping requirements at § 169.2 of this chapter and this policy.

(1) Labeling on immediate product. EPA will not treat as unregistered for the purposes of section 17(a)(2), a registered pesticide product which cannot be sold or distributed for use in the United States because its immediate product container does not bear a label approved under a FIFRA section 3 registration, but which could be sold or distributed in the United States with the approved label attached to the immediate product container, provided that the label and labeling approved under a current FIFRA section 3 registration for the product is either attached to the immediate product container or accompanies the product at all times as supplemental labeling as provided in paragraph (c) of this section.

(2) Packaging. (i) Certain changes may be made to a product's labeling or packaging without affecting the registration status of the product, as specified in § 152.46(b) of this chapter and this policy. These changes include any changes in package size and label net contents, provided no change in use directions or requirement for child-resistant packaging would be necessary for the product to be registered for use in the United States. For example, if child-resistant packaging is required for a particular pesticide product in the United States, and the product will be exported without child-resistant packaging, the product would be considered unregistered and therefore subject to all the requirements of FIFRA section 17(a), as described in § 168.75 of this chapter including the requirement for a purchaser acknowledgement statement.

(ii) If an exporter needed to repackage a product in a size to meet a foreign purchaser's specifications, that modification would not affect the registration status of the export product. Other modifications to the label used for export purposes which will not affect the export product's registration status are: the use of metric units for net contents, dosages, and other numeric expressions; the use of a different format for the label, provided that the information does not contradict the U.S. label; revision of non-mandatory U.S. label statements, consistent with 40 CFR part 156, including additions or changes required by other Federal statutes or regulations; a change of the name or address of the registrant, except for a change resulting from transfer of ownership, which requires that a registrant keep his name and address current with the Agency; and any correction of typographical or printing errors that appeared on the U.S. labeling. (See § 152.46(b)).