Implementing the Pesticide Registration
Improvement Act - Fiscal Year 2018

Fifteenth Annual Report




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Implementing the Pesticide Registration Improvement Act — Fiscal Year 2018

Maintenance Fees
Accomplishments
Inert Ingredients

Inert Ingredient Actions under PRIA

FIFRA section 33(k)(2)(F) requires EPA to report the progress in carrying out the review of inert
ingredients. Under PRIA 3, all new requests for approval of inert ingredients became subject to
registration service fee requirements, and ten new PRIA categories were established specific to
inert ingredient approvals. The Inert Ingredients team in the Chemistry, Inerts, and Toxicology
Assessment Branch (CITAB) of the Registration Division, reviews inert ingredient clearance
requests. Consisting of 5 employees at the end of FY' 18, Inerts team staff are supplemented with
staff in other pesticide regulatory groups as needed, particularly to review inert ingredients
associated with biopesticide and antimicrobial products.

At the end of FY' 17, 44 inert applications carried over into FY' 18. In FY' 18, 48 inert
ingredient requests were received as covered PRIA 3 applications. In FY' 18, 39 inert ingredient
approval decisions were completed, and at the end of FY'18, 53 inert ingredient approval
requests were pending in various stages of review.

Process Improvement in Inert Ingredient Reviews

The agency is continuing work with submitters to help ensure that all inert clearance
submissions under PRIA are complete and of high quality, thereby allowing the agency to more
efficiently and effectively review the submissions. Many submitters have had pre-submission
consultations with the agency where questions regarding submission content can be addressed in
advance of a formal PRIA submission.

EPA has continued to make updates to InertFinder, an online database for searching substances
used as inert ingredients in pesticide products. InertFinder, which is searchable by chemical
name or CAS Registry Number, provides information on the approval status of substances used
as inert ingredients for use in food use and nonfood use pesticides, including fragrances in
pesticide products, and is available on the agency's website at https://www.epa.gov/pesticide-
registration/inert-ingredients-overview-and-guidance#inertfinder. Similarly, EPA has updated
"The List of Trade Names of Inert Ingredients"

http://iaspub.epa.gov/apex/pesticides/f?p=inertfinder:mixtures website to further enhance public
access to information related to the EPA approval status of trade name inert ingredients used in
pesticide products. Both InertFinder and The List of Trade Names of Inert Ingredients are useful
resources for applicants and have been demonstrated to improve the quality of registration
applications submitted to the agency.

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