Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Reform Act of 1988

(Reported to Senate from the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry, amended (without written report))

Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Reform Act of 1988 - Title I: Definitions - Amends the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act to define specified terms for purposes of such Act.

Title II: Registration of Pesticides - Authorizes the use of an arbitration procedure to determine compensation for the use of another registrant's health and safety data for expired-patent pesticides.

Permits two or more pesticide registrants to jointly develop additional supporting data. Requires that when tests to support a pesticide registration are requested by more than one Federal or State agency, such tests be coordinated and synchronized among the agencies so as to avoid unnecessary redundancy.

Provides for the expedited review of applications which propose the registration of a pesticide which is substantially similar to a registered pesticide or propose an amendment to the registration of a registered pesticide that does not require scientific review of data.

Prohibits conditional registrations of additional uses unless in the public interest.

Sets forth procedures for conducting interim administrative reviews of whether a registered pesticide or pesticide category poses unreasonable adverse environmental effects.

Provides for public access to health and safety data submitted to support a registration application for a pesticide containing a new active ingredient, or to authorize the food use of a pesticide active ingredient. Provides criminal penalties for wrongful disclosure. Requires a person seeking such information to affirm that he or she is not working for a pesticide business.

Requires the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), in regulating the in-plant application of a wood preserving pesticide, to regulate as a pesticide excess quantities of such preservative that are collected and contained for reapplication.

Requires EPA to establish an inert ingredient priority list.

Requires EPA to establish and enforce efficiency standards for antimicrobial control agents (including disinfectants), including standards for hospital and health facility use. Requires EPA to develop methods for testing the neurotoxicological and behavioral effects of pesticides.

Title III: Reregistration of Registered Pesticides - Requires the reregistration of active ingredient pesticides with outstanding data requirements registered before November 1, 1984. Provides for a phased-in nine year reregistration period.

Provides for one-time registration fees based on active ingredients and annual pesticide registration maintenance fees. Establishes a registration and expedited processing fund in the Treasury.

Title IV: Certified Applicators - Makes it a violation for any person to use any pesticide as a commercial applicator unless such person is a certified commercial applicator or a registered commercial applicator under the direct supervision of a certified commercial applicator.

Provides for the development of training materials and procedures, including standards for trainers and training programs. Provides for separate standards for commercial and private applicators. Requires refresher training.

Title V: Administrative Review - Requires a request for a cancellation hearing to identify the disputed findings and to include a statement of reasons which support such request.

Revises pesticide label change procedures, including prohibiting a label change that would be equivalent to a cancellation of use or make the product unmarketable.

Revises administrative review provisions.

Requires EPA to cancel or suspend a registration based on false or invalid data.

Requires producers and other parties to notify EPA and the State regarding stored, cancelled, or suspended pesticides.

Title VI: Reregistration of Establishments - Requires pesticide producers to have available for the public pesticide active ingredient fact sheets. Requires annual reports to EPA.

Title VII: Books and Records - Sets forth recordkeeping provisions, including requirements regarding commercial applicators and pesticide dealers.

Title VIII: Inspection of Establishments - Authorizes duly designated Federal and State officials or employees to inspect pesticide facilities.

Title IX: Protection of Trade Secrets and Other Information - Authorizes EPA to disclose to a State data acquired under this Act if the State provides the data submitter with at least the same protection as provided for by this Act. Requires such disclosure if the State also permits a compensation action for wrongful disclosure.

Title X: Standards Applicable to Pesticide Applicators - Repeals specified private applicator recordkeeping requirements.

Title XI: Unlawful Acts - Revises specified provisions regarding unlawful activities under such Act.

Title XII: Penalties - Increases specified civil and criminal penalties under such Act. Grants to the EPA witness and document subpoena authority.

Title XIII: Indemnities - Indemnifies pesticides users for a pesticide obtained prior to EPA's notification of registrants that it intends to suspend such pesticide. Indemnifies dealers and distributors of such pesticides in limited circumstances. Requires EPA, before making any indemnification payment, to: (1) report to the appropriate congressional committees; and (2) have a prior specific line item fund appropriation.

Title XIV: Administrative Procedure - Permits a private right of action for judicial review of an EPA regulation.

Title XV: Imports and Exports - Prohibits the export of restricted use or unregistered pesticides until the EPA receives specified information regarding such pesticides and their exportation and the importer is notified of the reasons why such pesticides were restricted or denied registration in this country. Prohibits the export of such pesticides to countries which are not on a list, maintained by EPA, of countries which have mechanisms to ensure their safe and effective use.

Requires EPA to: (1) notify foreign governments and appropriate international agencies of pesticide regulatory activities; (2) participate in international pesticide research and regulatory programs; (3) provide foreign governments with technical assistance in developing pesticide regulatory programs; (4) survey countries that import U.S. pesticides or export agricultural products to the United States to ascertain existing pesticide regulations and control food residues; and (5) sponsor meetings to encourage members of the organization for Economic Cooperation and Development to adopt a binding multilateral convention containing regulations for exported pesticides at least as stringent as these in this Act.

Title XVI: Disposal and Transportation - Authorizes the EPA to: (1) require registrants to provide information concerning the safe storage and disposal of excess or spilled pesticides and their ability to carry out recall plans; (2) impose requirements and procedures on persons who store, transport, or dispose of a cancelled or suspended pesticide or materials used to contain or collect excess or spilled quantities of such pesticide; and (3) recall a pesticide when necessary for the protection of health or the environment. Reimburses registrants for a portion of the recall costs borne by such registrants after their submission to the EPA of a recall plans which sets forth the recall schedule, the extent of such recall, and means to verify its effectiveness.

Requires EPA to develop: (1) design regulations for pesticide containers that will promote the safe storage and disposal of such pesticides; and (2) regulations for pesticide container residue removal.

Requires an EPA pesticide container study and report to the Congress.

Title XVII: Delegation and Cooperation - States that EPA actions under such Act shall not preempt certain Department of Labor enforcement activities under the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970. Requires that before EPA uses, under this Act, a determination, finding, or guideline that is made under another Federal or State law, EPA consult its issuer to ensure that EPA's actions are based on the best scientific and commercial data available and have been formulated under procedures that give affected parties an opportunity for comment.

Title XVIII: State Cooperation, Aid, and Training - Authorizes EPA to enter into cooperative agreements with States and Indian tribes for: (1) pesticide enforcement activities, including personnel training; (2) applicator training; and (3) pesticide certification and licensing programs. Authorizes appropriations.

Title XIX: Authority of States - Prohibits States, for a five-year period, from prohibiting the sale or use of specified household antimicrobial pesticides with pending State registrations until a final application determination has been made.

Requires EPA to establish criteria for disapproving special local needs registrations that take into account geographic use patterns.

Title XX: Authority of Administrator - Repeals specified congressional review provisions of such Act.

Makes authority for the scientific advisory panel permanent and increases its membership.

Requires EPA to: (1) promulgate regulations regarding the health, safety, and training of employees who mix, load, or apply pesticides and agricultural workers in pesticide-treated areas; and (2) report to the Congress.

Title XXI: State Primary Enforcement Responsibility - Provides for the expiration of State primary pesticide enforcement responsibility as of September 1, 1990, unless EPA determines that a State has the authority to impose civil and criminal penalties at least equal to those under such Act.

Title XXII: Failure by the State to Assure Enforcement of State Pesticide Use Regulations - Authorizes EPA action under specified conditions if a State fails to enforce its pesticide use regulations.

Title XXIII: Pesticides in Ground Water - Requires a pesticide registrant or reregistrant to submit information to EPA regarding the pesticide's potential for groundwater leaching. Provides that where such a potential exists and additional data, which registrants may be required to collect, indicates that there is a reasonable likelihood that the groundwater residue guidance level for a pesticide will be exceeded in drinking water wells in different localties the EPA shall amend the pesticide's registration so that such level will not be surpassed. Gives States 90 days after being notified by EPA that such level has been surpassed to take action to prevent potential adverse effects on human health or the environment before EPA takes action to prevent such effects.

Directs EPA, with the assistance of a council of information management experts, to develop a site-specific pesticide information management system to assist State and local officials and users to prevent groundwater contamination by pesticides. Authorizes appropriations for FY 1988 through 1992 for such system.

Requires that each EPA groundwater residue guidance level be set no higher than the level of a pesticide in drinking water at which no known or adverse effect on human health occurs. Requires that such levels be set at the limit of detection where data on health effects are absent or invalid.

Title XXIV: Authorization for Appropriations - Authorizes FY 1988 through 1992 appropriations.

Title XXV: Other Provisions - Protects farmers from liability under Federal environmental laws for the release, or damages caused by the release of a pesticide if such pesticide was applied in compliance with label instructions and applicable law.

Directs the Secretary of Agriculture, in providing regional research grants, to provide support for the interregional project number 4 program (IR4 program).

Extends patents for certain pesticide, chemical, and plant products that undergo regulatory review prior to commercial marketing.

Provides that during the last two years of a registered pesticide's patent it shall not be an act of patent infringement to make, use, or sell such pesticide solely for testing reasonably related to the development or submission of certain required data.

Amends the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act to require that when a pesticide registration is withdrawn, cancelled, or suspended because of human dietary risk, EPA shall withdraw tolerances for residues of the pesticide, or any tolerance exemption.

Requires EPA, working in conjunction with the Secretary of Agriculture, to study the potential contributions of biotechnology to the reduction of domestic reliance on, and human exposure to pesticides. Sets forth reporting requirements. Authorizes appropriations for such study. Requires EPA to conduct a thorough evaluation of the health effects of DDT and other contamination of fish in Santa Monica Bay, California and in surrounding waters and report to the Congress on the results of such study within six months of this Act's enactment.

Title XXVI: Pesticide Monitoring Improvements - Pesticide Monitoring Improvements Act of 1988 - Requires the Secretary of Health and Human Services (Secretary) to place into effect computerized data management systems for the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) enabling the FDA to record, summarize, and evaluate information regarding pesticide residues on imported and domestically produced foods.

Directs the Secretary to enter into cooperative agreements with countries that are the major sources of food imports into the United States subject to pesticide residue monitoring by the FDA for the purpose of improving the FDA's ability to assure compliance with its pesticide tolerance requirements.

Requires the Secretary to: (1) develop a long-range research plan for the development and validation of improved analytical methods for multiple pesticide residue detection; (2) review the cost-effectiveness of such methods; and (3) report to the Congress within 240 days of this Act's enactment on such plan and review.

Title XXVII: Clarifying and Technical Amendments - Sets forth technical amendments.

Title XXVIII: Effective Date - Makes the provisions of this Act, unless otherwise provided for, effective 60 days after enactment.