Federal Agency Certification Plans

Title: Federal Agency Certification Plans
Category: Certification
Resources: Paper
Date: 2010
Addressed By Revised 40 CFR Party 171: Yes

Excerpt: The Certification and Training Assessment Group (CTAG) strives to facilitate improvement in the national pesticide applicator certification and training (C&T) program by sharing information and resources that will help to support and strengthen federal, state and tribal C&T programs. In recent years, several concerns have been raised by certification program stakeholders regarding the certification of federal employees by federal agencies under a “federal agency certification plan” (FACP). Most concerns focused on the following issues: EPA’s regulatory requirements for FACPs; the nature of regulatory controls over federal agency certifications; whether federal agencies must comply with state and tribal pesticide use laws and regulations; the authority of states and tribes over federal agency certifications; and the current status of FACPs and the certifications issued under such FACPs.
CTAG developed this fact sheet for interested C&T program stakeholders to provide general information about FACPs and how they operate in conjunction with state and tribal C&T programs. This fact sheet also provides information for states and tribes on how they should address potential issues with FACPs or the misapplication of a restricted use pesticide (RUP) by a federal employee certified under an FACP, and it provides information on who to contact at EPA if you have additional questions…