§4270.7. Determining Biobased Content. — Inbound Citations

(1) USDA reserves the right to request occasional testing of Certified Biobased Products without notice to compare the Biobased Content of the tested product with the product's Applicable Minimum Biobased Content and the Biobased content reported in its Certified Application. Such testing will be conducted using ASTM Method D6866 in accordance with the procedures discussed in § 4270.7.

(i) If the testing shows that the Biobased Content of a Certified Biobased Product is less than its Applicable Minimum Biobased Content, then a violation of this part will have occurred.

(ii) If the testing shows that the Biobased Content is less than that reported in the product's Certified Application but is still equal to or greater than its Applicable Minimum Biobased Content(s), USDA will provide written notification to the Participating Organization. The participant must submit, within 90 Days from receipt of USDA written notification, a new application for the lower Biobased Content. Failure to submit a new application within 90 Days will be considered a violation of this part.

(A) The participant can submit a new application to use the Biobased Content reported to it by USDA in the written notification.

(B) Alternatively, the participant may submit a new application and elect to retest the product in question. If the participant elects to retest the product, it must test a sample of the current product, and the procedures in § 4270.9 must be followed. USDA reserves the right to select the sample that will be submitted for retesting.

(a) The product for which certification is sought must be a Biobased Product as defined in § 4270.2. Products must undergo Biobased Content Testing as described in § 4270.7 of this part to confirm the products meet or exceed the applicable minimums.

(1) If the product is qualified for preferred Federal procurement through the BioPreferred Program as of January 8, 2025, the product will remain eligible under the legacy rules, which can be found on the BioPreferred Program website (biopreferred.gov), until the product is reformulated, discontinued, or until December 9, 2027, whichever comes first. These products must follow the procedures described in § 4270.9 before December 9, 2027 to remain eligible.

(2) Motor vehicle fuels, heating oil, and electricity are excluded by statute from this Program. For the purposes of this Program, food, animal feed, and products intended to be ingested or inhaled such as pharmaceuticals or nutraceuticals are also excluded.

(ii) For those applications that are conditionally approved to move forward, Biobased Content Testing must be completed as described in § 4270.7. Test results obtained prior to the application being conditionally accepted or obtained in a manner that does not comply with this part cannot be accepted.