H-4216.1  _______________________________________________

                     HOUSE JOINT MEMORIAL 4027

          _______________________________________________

State of Washington      56th Legislature     2000 Regular Session

By Representatives Schoesler, G. Chandler, Grant, McMorris, B. Chandler, Delvin and Talcott

Read first time 01/27/2000.  Referred to Committee on Agriculture & Ecology.

Requesting a sharing of data concerning and allowing the use of similar pesticide in both the United States and Canada.

    TO THE HONORABLE WILLIAM J. CLINTON, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES, AND TO THE PRESIDENT OF THE SENATE AND THE SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, AND TO THE SENATE AND HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE UNITED STATES, IN CONGRESS ASSEMBLED, AND TO THE ADMINISTRATOR OF THE UNITED STATES ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY:

    We, your Memorialists, the Senate and House of Representatives of the State of Washington, in legislative session assembled, respectfully represent and petition as follows:

    WHEREAS, The governments of the United States of America and Canada have independently developed extensive registration and regulatory programs for pesticides under the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (7 U.S.C. Sec. 136 et seq.) and the Pest Control Products Act (R.S.C., ch. P-9) under which products with substantially similar ingredients have been registered in both countries; and

    WHEREAS, Under the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), the governments of the United States of America, Canada, and the United Mexican States formed a technical working group in 1996 regarding pesticides; and

    WHEREAS, The objective of that technical working group is to develop a coordinated regulatory framework for pesticides among the NAFTA trading partners; and

    WHEREAS, Among the issues the technical working group is charged with addressing are building national regulatory and scientific capacity, sharing the review burden, and coordinating scientific and regulatory decision making; and

    WHEREAS, Greater consistency in regulatory policies as well as efficiencies in providing research and information for decision making and efficiencies in marketing registered products would result from such a coordinated approach to regulating pesticides; and

    WHEREAS, A renewed commitment and dedication of national resources to these objectives of the technical working group is needed and, as a minimum, first steps toward achieving the objectives of the technical working group should be taken that are based on the similarities in the registration programs of Canada and the United States of America;

    NOW, THEREFORE, Your Memorialists respectfully pray that Congress and the executive branch of the United States of America firmly commit the government of this nation and its administrative and technical resources to pursuing:

    (1) The objectives of the technical working group established under the NAFTA to encourage pesticide product design with a North American market in mind, develop common data submission and format requirements for each of the NAFTA countries for their data review requirements, establish a coordinated review process in which the data reviews of each of the countries is used to the fullest, and minimize the trade problems resulting from differences in pesticide residue limits among the three countries; and

    (2) As first steps in this direction:  (a) A sharing of use tolerance data obtained in Canada and this country particularly with regard to processing special local needs exemptions in this country; and (b) an agreement that allows the use of pesticides registered in this country and pest control products registered in Canada that have substantially similar ingredients to be used in both countries and, in the interim, a process for registering pesticides and pest control products in one country that are already registered in the other country.

    BE IT RESOLVED, That copies of this Memorial be immediately transmitted to the Honorable William J. Clinton, President of the United States, the Administrator of the United States Environmental Protection Agency, the President of the United States Senate, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, and each member of Congress from the State of Washington.

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