EPA v. TCI AMERICA

Case summary

On May 13, 2019, EPA issued a Notice of Refusal of Admission (NORA) to U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and denied entry of the pesticide product ?BOSCALID? imported by TCI America and described under the CBP Automated Commercial Environment (ACE) entry number M34-79173189. The NORA was issued because this product is used in pesticide formulations and therefore requires registration with EPA. The product is currently listed as a fungicide ingredient on the TCI America website (https://www.tcichemicals.com/eshop/en/us/ commodity/B4038/). Furthermore, the CBP ACE entry for this product was filed under program code PS1 and disclaim code A, indicating a product that is not regulated by EPA. This is incorrect, because this product either requires registration with EPA, or if it is used for research and development purposes, specific information to that effect needs to be provided to EPA as part of the filing of a Notice of Arrival of Pesticides and Devices in paper format or via the ACE system. This means that the import of this product requires either an EPA-accepted label, or documentation that it is used for research and development purposes. However, neither of those documents were provided. Therefore, the BOSCALID product was not labeled in accordance with 40 C.F.R. Part 156 and was therefore be deemed to be in violation of the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA). On May 14, 2019, TCI America informed EPA that the company would like to destroy the product rather than exporting it back to Shanghai. TCI America will provide a certificate of disposal as soon as the product has been destroyed.

Defendants (1)

• TCI AMERICANamed in settlement

Facilities (1)

• TCI AMERICA

  9211 N HARBORGATE ST, PORTLAND, OR, 97203

  Registry ID: 110004789033

Statutes cited

• FIFRA 12A1A — Unregistered Pesticide

Enforcement conclusions (1)

• TCI AMERICAentered 2019-05-13

  Primary law: FIFRA

Timeline (2 milestones)

• 2019-05-13Final Order Issued
• 2019-06-14Enforcement Action Data Entered