7 U.S.C. § 136w — Authority of Administrator

(a) In general (1) Regulations The Administrator can write regulations to carry out this law, following the steps in paragraph (2). These regulations must treat different kinds of pesticides differently. They must account for the differences between public health pesticides and other pesticides. They must also account for differences in environmental risk, and the right data to judge that risk, between farm pesticides, non-farm pesticides, and public health pesticides. (2) Procedure (A) Proposed regulations Before the Administrator signs a proposed regulation for the Federal Register, the Administrator must send a copy to the Secretary of Agriculture. This must happen at least 60 days before signing. If the Secretary sends written comments within 30 days of getting the copy, the Administrator must publish the Secretary's comments and the Administrator's response, together with the proposed regulation, in the Federal Register. If the Secretary does not comment in writing within 30 days, the Administrator may sign the proposed regulation any time after those 30 days — even if the full 60 days has not passed. (B) Final regulations Before signing a regulation in its final form, the Administrator must give the Secretary of Agriculture a copy at least 30 days ahead of time. If the Secretary comments in writing within 15 days, the Administrator must publish the Secretary's comments (if the Secretary asks for that) and the Administrator's response, together with the final regulation. If the Secretary does not comment within 15 days, the Administrator may sign the regulation any time after those 15 days, even if the full 30 days has not passed. When the Administrator takes final action, the Administrator must consider the regulation's effect on farm production and prices, on retail food prices, and on the farm economy generally — and must publish an analysis of that effect in the Federal Register. (C) Time requirements The Administrator and the Secretary of Agriculture can agree to waive or change the time limits in (A) and (B). (D) Publication in the Federal Register Whenever the Administrator notifies the Secretary of Agriculture under this paragraph, before issuing a proposed or final regulation, the Administrator must publish that same notice in the Federal Register at the same time. (3) Congressional committees Whenever the Administrator must give the Secretary of Agriculture a copy of a proposed or final regulation under paragraph (2), the Administrator must also send a copy to the House Committee on Agriculture and the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry. (4) Congressional review of regulations Whenever the Administrator issues any rule or regulation under this law, the Administrator must send a copy to the Secretary of the Senate and the Clerk of the House of Representatives at the same time. That rule or regulation cannot take effect until 60 calendar days after the Administrator sends it. (b) Exemption of pesticides The Administrator may write a regulation exempting a pesticide from this law's requirements. The Administrator can do this if the pesticide is already properly regulated by another federal agency, or if regulating the pesticide under this law is not needed to achieve the law's goals. (c) Other authority After giving notice and a chance for a hearing, the Administrator may: 1. Declare something a "pest" — meaning any kind of plant or animal life that harms health or the environment. This does not include people, or bacteria, viruses, and other microorganisms living in or on people or other living animals. 2. Decide that a pesticide contains a substance, or substances, in amounts highly toxic to people. 3. Set standards for the packages, containers, or wrapping that hold a pesticide or device. These standards must match the Poison Prevention Packaging Act. Their goal is to protect children and adults from serious injury from accidentally swallowing or touching a pesticide or device, and to serve this law's other goals. 4. Say which kinds of devices must follow the rules in section 136(q)(1) or section 136e, whenever the Administrator decides that applying those rules is needed to serve this law's purposes. 5. Require, by regulation, that a pesticide be colored or discolored, if the Administrator decides that doing so is possible and necessary to protect health and the environment. 6. Decide and set the proper names to use in a pesticide's list of ingredients. (d) Scientific advisory panel (1) In general The Administrator must send the advisory panel, for comment on the impact to health and the environment: the action proposed in notices of intent issued under section 136d(b), and proposed and final regulations issued under subsection (a). This must happen within the same time periods that apply to the Secretary of Agriculture's comments under those same sections. The time limits for notices of intent and for proposed and final regulations cannot be changed or waived unless — in addition to meeting the requirements of section 136d(b) or subsection (a) — the advisory panel either failed to comment in time, or agreed to the change. The Administrator must also ask the advisory panel for comments, evaluations, and recommendations on operating guidelines. The goal is to improve the quality of the scientific analyses that EPA staff use when they help the Administrator make decisions under this law. The panel's comments, evaluations, and recommendations, and the Administrator's response, must be published in the Federal Register the same way as the Secretary of Agriculture's comments. The panel's chairman, after talking with the Administrator, may set up temporary subpanels for specific projects. These subpanels help the full panel prepare its evaluations faster. Subpanels can include scientists who are not panel members, if the panel decides that is needed to evaluate scientific studies the Administrator is relying on. The panel picks these extra scientists itself. The panel has 7 members. The Administrator appoints them from a list of 12 nominees — 6 nominated by the National Institutes of Health and 6 by the National Science Foundation. Terms are staggered. Members must be picked based on their qualifications to judge how pesticides affect health and the environment. As much as possible, the panel should include people from toxicology, pathology, environmental biology, and related fields. If a seat opens up because a term ended, a member resigned, or for any other reason, the Administrator picks the replacement from 4 nominees — 2 from each of the two nominating groups. The Administrator can extend a member's term until a replacement is appointed. If the seat opened for a reason other than a term ending, the Administrator appoints someone to serve out the rest of that term, using the same nomination process. If the list of nominees is not good enough, the Administrator can ask the nominating groups for more names. The Administrator can require information from nominees, and must publish each nominee's name, address, and professional affiliations in the Federal Register. Each panel member gets a daily rate of pay, set by the Administrator, that cannot be more than the rate for GS-18 on the General Schedule. A member who already holds another federal job that pays more can choose to keep that job's pay instead. The Administrator must write conflict-of-interest regulations for panel members to keep the panel objective. This advisory panel is permanent. In doing its work, the panel must consult and coordinate with the Science Advisory Board set up under the Environmental Research, Development, and Demonstration Authorization Act of 1978. Whenever the Administrator uses the power in section 136d(c) to immediately suspend a pesticide's registration to stop an imminent hazard, the Administrator must promptly send that suspension to the advisory panel for comment on its health and environmental impact. (2) Science Review Board This section creates a Science Review Board with 60 scientists. They are available to help the Scientific Advisory Panel with its reviews. Board members are chosen the same way as temporary subpanel members. They are paid the same way as Panel members. (e) Peer review The Administrator must set up written procedures for peer review. This covers the design, protocols, and conduct of major scientific studies done under this law — whether done by EPA, another federal agency, a state or local government, or an institution or person working under a grant, contract, or cooperative agreement with EPA. These procedures must also provide for peer review of the results of such studies, when the Administrator relies on them for decisions to change a pesticide's classification, or to suspend or cancel it. This peer review uses the advisory panel from subsection (d), or other qualified experts the Administrator picks from a current list the panel keeps. If the Administrator decides there is no time for peer review of a study's results before using the section 136d(c) power to immediately suspend a registration for an imminent hazard, the Administrator must arrange for that peer review right after suspending it instead. The evaluations and records that make up the peer review — for both proposed studies and completed study results — must be included in what the Administrator sends the advisory panel for comment under subsection (d). In this subsection, "peer review" means an independent evaluation by scientific experts, from inside or outside EPA, in the right fields.