[Code of Federal Regulations]
[Title 40, Volume 22]
[Revised as of July 1, 2004]
From the U.S. Government Printing Office via GPO Access
[CITE: 40CFR180.40]

[Page 333-334]
 
                   TITLE 40--PROTECTION OF ENVIRONMENT
 
         CHAPTER I--ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY (CONTINUED)
 
PART 180_TOLERANCES AND EXEMPTIONS FROM TOLERANCES FOR PESTICIDE CHEMICALS 
IN FOOD--Table of Contents
 
                    Subpart B_Procedural Regulations
 
Sec. 180.40  Tolerances for crop groups.

    (a) Group or subgroup tolerances may be established as a result of:
    (1) A petition from a person who has submitted an application for 
the registration of a pesticide under the Federal Insecticide, 
Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act.
    (2) On the initiative of the Administrator.
    (3) A petition by an interested person.
    (b) The tables in Sec. 180.41 are to be used in conjunction with 
this section for the establishment of crop group tolerances. Each table 
in Sec. 180.41 lists a group of raw agricultural commodities that are 
considered to be related for the purposes of this section. Refer also to 
Sec. 180.1(h) for a listing of commodities for which established 
tolerances may be applied to certain other related and similar 
commodities.
    (c) When there is an established or proposed tolerance for all of 
the representative commodities for a specific group or subgroup of 
related commodities, a tolerance may be established for all commodities 
in the associated group or subgroup. Tolerances may be established for a 
crop group or, alternatively, tolerances may be established for one or 
more of the subgroups of a crop group.
    (d) The representative crops are given as an indication of the 
minimum residue chemistry data base acceptable to the Agency for the 
purposes of establishing a group tolerance. The Agency may, at its 
discretion, allow group tolerances when data on suitable substitutes for 
the representative crops are available (e.g., limes instead of lemons).
    (e) Since a group tolerance reflects maximum residues likely to 
occur on

[[Page 334]]

all individual crops within a group, the proposed or registered patterns 
of use for all crops in the group or subgroup must be similar before a 
group tolerance is established. The pattern of use consists of the 
amount of pesticide applied, the number of times applied, the timing of 
the first application, the interval between applications, and the 
interval between the last application and harvest. The pattern of use 
will also include the type of application; for example, soil or foliar 
application, or application by ground or aerial equipment.
    (f) When the crop grouping contains commodities or byproducts that 
are utilized for animal feed, any needed tolerance or exemption from a 
tolerance for the pesticide in meat, milk, poultry and/or eggs must be 
established before a tolerance will be granted for the group as a whole. 
The representative crops include all crops in the group that could be 
processed such that residues may concentrate in processed food and/or 
feed. Processing data will be required prior to establishment of a group 
tolerance, and food additive tolerances will not be granted on a group 
basis.
    (g) If maximum residues (tolerances) for the representative crops 
vary by more than a factor of 5 from the maximum value observed for any 
crop in the group, a group or subgroup tolerance will ordinarily not be 
established. In this case individual crop tolerances, rather than group 
tolerances, will normally be established.
    (h) Alternatively, a commodity with a residue level significantly 
higher or lower than the other commodities in a group may be excluded 
from the group tolerance (e.g., cereal grains, except corn). In this 
case an individual tolerance at the appropriate level for the unique 
commodity would be established, if necessary. The alternative approach 
of excluding a commodity with a significantly higher or lower residue 
level will not be used to establish a tolerance for a commodity 
subgroup. Most subgroups have only two representative commodities; to 
exclude one such commodity and its related residue data would likely 
provide insufficient residue information to support the remainder of the 
subgroup. Residue data from crops additional to those representative 
crops in a grouping may be required for systemic pesticides.
    (i) The commodities included in the groups will be updated 
periodically either at the initiative of the Agency or at the request of 
an interested party. Persons interested in updating this section should 
contact the Registration Division of the Office of Pesticide Programs.
    (j) Establishment of a tolerance does not substitute for the 
additional need to register the pesticide under a companion law, the 
Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act. The Registration 
Division of the Office of Pesticide Programs should be contacted 
concerning procedures for registration of new uses of a pesticide.

[60 FR 26635, May 17, 1995]