On December 27, 2024, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released for comment a proposed plan to track the adoption of bilingual labeling of pesticide products. 90 Fed. Reg. 9. The Pesticide Registration Improvement Act of 2022 (PRIA 5) amended the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA) to require Spanish language translation of the health and safety sections of end-use pesticide product labels on a rolling schedule that begins in December 2025 and ends in December 2030. PRIA 5 also requires that EPA develop, implement, and make publicly available, a plan for tracking the adoption of the bilingual labeling by December 29, 2024. Spanish is the primary language for most American farmworkers. EPA states that this effort advances environmental justice by making health and safety information on pesticide labels more accessible, fostering better understanding and compliance with label instructions. Comments are due on or before February 3, 2025. Comments can be submitted to docket ID EPA-HQ-OPP-2024-0438 at www.regulations.gov.

Beginning on December 29, 2025, labels for restricted use pesticide (RUP) products or agricultural use products with the highest toxicity (Acute Toxicity Category I) will be required to bear Spanish language translations for the health and safety sections. The translations must appear either on the pesticide product container or through a hyperlink or other readily accessible electronic method. Pesticide labels must include these translations on the rolling schedule provided below that depends on the pesticide product type and the acute toxicity category, with the most hazardous and toxic pesticide products requiring translation in the first phase.

All end-use pesticide product labels must have Spanish translations for the health and safety sections by December 29, 2030.

In the proposed plan, EPA would track bilingual label adoptions through a modification to the annual Maintenance Fee Product List form which is required of all active pesticide registrants when the annual pesticide maintenance fees are submitted. The form and fee payment are due to EPA in mid-January of each year. The annual Maintenance Fee Product List form would be revised, in the proposed plan, for the registrant to include whether they are providing Spanish translations of the health and safety portions for each registered end-use product label. The registrant would need to indicate whether each end-use product labeling has translations of the parts of the label contained in the Spanish Translation Guide for Pesticide Labeling(Guide), or a link to the translation via scannable technology or other electronic method to meet the requirements of PRIA 5. The responses would then be used to verify which products have implemented the PRIA 5 bilingual labeling requirements according to the rolling schedule.

FIFRA, as amended in accordance with PRIA 5, requires bilingual labeling changes to be implemented through a non-notification procedure according to the Pesticide Registration Notice (PR) 98-10: Notifications, Non-Notifications and Minor Formulation Amendments. The non-notification process means that a product label may be updated with Spanish translations without notifying or submitting the label changes to EPA, if the addition of the Spanish translations are the only changes being made to the label. The Spanish text must be a true and accurate translation of the English text. EPA notes that both English and Spanish versions of the labeling must appear on a container or a link to such translation. Spanish text may be used on all or part of the labeling.

Non-notification label changes are not submitted to EPA; thus, the changes are not systematically tracked by EPA. The proposed plan would track the adoption of bilingual labeling of pesticide products.

As part of the proposed plan, EPA states that it intends to make the information on the progress of bilingual labeling publicly available on the bilingual labeling website, as required by PRIA 5.

The proposed plan is available in docket EPA-HQ-OPP-2024-0438 at www.regulations.gov for public comment. EPA will review the public comments and develop a final plan for tracking the implementation of bilingual labeling. EPA intends to begin tracking the labels with the issuance of the Maintenance Fee Forms to all of the pesticide registrants in the fall of 2025.

In addition, EPA has released a revised version of the Guide in December 2024. The second edition replaces the first edition (released in 2019) and includes additional information on RUPs, misuse statements, first aid and precautionary statement label language, personal protective equipment (PPE) label statements, storage and pesticide container disposal instructions, and new sections on engineering controls, environmental hazards, and physical or chemical hazards.

The second version of the Guide does not affect or change the implementation deadlines provided in PRIA 5. As the Guide is updated in the future, registrants are responsible for ensuring labels incorporate translations for all required sections in the updated Guide according to the timing outlined in PRIA 5. PRIA 5 provides a timetable outlining when labels will be required to be updated depending on the type of product:

• For agricultural use pesticide labels, companies must update their product label with the new information within one year after the date of publication of the updated Guide or the latest EPA approved label (whichever is earlier); and
• For antimicrobial and non-agricultural use pesticide labels, companies must update their product label with the new information within two years after the date of publication of the updated Guide or the latest EPA approved label (whichever is earlier).