United States       Prevention, Pesticides     EPA712-C-96-028
          Environmental Protection    and Toxic Substances     August 1996
          Agency        (7101)
&EPA   Product Properties
          Test Guidelines
          OPPTS 830.6320
          Corrosion
          Characteristics

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                           INTRODUCTION
     This guideline is one  of a series  of test guidelines  that have been
developed by the Office of Prevention, Pesticides and Toxic Substances,
United States Environmental Protection Agency for use in the testing  of
pesticides and toxic substances, and the  development of test data that must
be submitted to the Agency  for review under Federal regulations.

     The Office of Prevention, Pesticides and Toxic Substances (OPPTS)
has  developed this guideline through  a  process of harmonization that
blended the testing  guidance and requirements that existed in the Office
of Pollution Prevention and Toxics  (OPPT) and appeared in Title 40,
Chapter I,  Subchapter R of the Code of Federal Regulations  (CFR), the
Office of Pesticide Programs (OPP) which appeared in publications of the
National Technical  Information Service (NTIS) and  the guidelines pub-
lished by the Organization  for Economic Cooperation and Development
(OECD).

     The purpose of harmonizing these guidelines into a single set  of
OPPTS  guidelines is to minimize variations among the testing procedures
that must be performed to meet the data  requirements of the U. S. Environ-
mental Protection Agency  under the Toxic  Substances Control Act (15
U.S.C. 2601) and the Federal Insecticide,  Fungicide and Rodenticide Act
(7U.S.C. I36,etseq.).

     Final  Guideline Release: This document is available from the U.S.
Government Printing Office, Washington, DC 20402 on The Federal Bul-
letin  Board.   By  modem  dial   202-512-1387,   telnet   and  ftp:
fedbbs.access.gpo.gov     (IP     162.140.64.19),    internet:     http://
fedbbs.access.gpo.gov, or call 202-512-0132 for disks or paper copies.
This guideline is available in ASCII and PDF (portable document format)
from the EPA Public Access Gopher (gopher.epa.gov) under the heading
"Environmental Test Methods and Guidelines."

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OPPTS 830.6320   Corrosion characteristics.
     (a) Scope—(1) Applicability. This guideline is intended to meet test-
ing requirements of the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide
Act (FIFRA) (7 U.S.C. 136, et seq.}.

     (2) Background. The source material used in developing this har-
monized OPPTS test guideline is OPP guideline 63-20 Corrosion charac-
teristics (Pesticide Assessment Guidelines, Subdivision D: Product Chem-
istry, EPA Report 540/9-82-018, October 1982)  and 40  CFR 158.190
Physical and chemical characteristics.

     (b) Test method—(1) Objective. Studies of the corrosion characteris-
tics of a pesticide are needed  to evaluate effects of the product formulation
on the container. If the pesticide  is highly corrosive, measures can be taken
to ensure  that lids, liners,  seams or  container sides will not be damaged
and cause the contents to leak during storage, handling, or use.  The objec-
tive  of this guideline is to determine the  effect of the pesticide product
on its packaging material.

     (2) Method. Report the data on  corrosion characteristics by following
the instructions in ASTM  G-31. The registrant is  urged to consult with
the Agency prior to adopting an alternative method.

     (3) Combined testing. A study of the corrosion characteristics of a
product may be performed in combination with the storage stability test
described in OPPTS 830.6317.

     (c) Reporting.  (1) Report  the  corrosion  characteristics of products
commercially packaged in metal, plastic,  or paper  containers in terms  of
visual observations (e.g./'perforations," "darkening," "leaking or rust at
the seam," etc.)  and,  if corrosion is visually  evident, by galvimetric  or
other determinations of the container at the beginning and end of the stor-
age period (typically 1 year).

     (2) Any methods used  to  characterize the physical properties of a
pesticide shall be  described in the application  for registration  and  copies
of such methods must be submitted with the application.

     (3) The applicant shall  submit  his own statistical evaluation  of the
precision  and accuracy of these measurements (e.g., standard deviations
or confidence intervals) when appropriate.

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