The EPA is proposing to issue a new group standard for treated seed under the Hazardous Substances and New Organisms Act 1996 (the HSNO Act). Under the HSNO Act, group standards are a type of approval for a group of hazardous substances of a similar nature, type or use. Importers and manufacturers can self-assign their substances to a group standard as long as their substances meet the conditions of the standard. Regulating treated seed is aligned with the approaches of many international regulators. The group standard would apply to imported or manufactured treated seed where the coating contains an active ingredient that is a component of a plant protection product, where that plant protection product has an approval under section 28A or section 29 of the Act. It will likely affect people who have previously been importing treated seed without needing an approval. Plant protection products are defined in the proposed group standard and include, but are not limited to, repellents, pesticides, growth regulators, and biopesticides. The group standard would include a suite of conditions relating to treated seed that people must comply with. This includes anyone importing, manufacturing, supplying, storing, using, or disposing of treated seed. To comply, they may need to add new information to their product labels and safety data sheets. If a treated seed group standard is issued, treated seed importers and manufacturers will need to know the hazard classification(s) of the…