The classes of actions listed in this section and §§ 25.31 through 25.35 are categorically excluded and, therefore, ordinarily do not require the preparation of an EA or an EIS:

(a) Routine administrative and management activities, including inspections, and issuance of field compliance programs, program circulars, or field investigative assignments.

(b) Recommendation for an enforcement action to be initiated in a Federal court.

(c) Agency requests for initiation of recalls.

(d) Destruction or disposition of any FDA-regulated article condemned after seizure or the distribution or use of which has been enjoined or following detention or recall at agency request if the method of destruction or disposition of the article, including packaging material, is in compliance with all Federal, State, and local requirements.

(e) Extramural contracts, other agreements, or grants for statistical and epidemiological studies, surveys and inventories, literature searches, and report and manual preparation, or any other studies that will not result in the production or distribution of any substance and, therefore, will not result in the introduction of any substance into the environment.

(f) Extramural contracts, other agreements, and grants for research for such purposes as to develop analytical methods or other test methodologies.

(g) Activities of voluntary Federal-State cooperative programs, including issuance of model regulations proposed for State adoption.

(h) Issuance, amendment, or revocation of procedural or administrative regulations and guidance documents, including procedures for submission of applications for product development, testing and investigational use, and approval.

(i) Corrections and technical changes in regulations.

(j) Issuance of CGMP regulations, HACCP regulations, establishment standards, emergency permit control regulations, GLP regulations, and issuance or denial of permits, exemptions, variances, or stays under these regulations.

(k) Establishment or repeal by regulation of labeling requirements for marketed articles if there will be no increase in the existing levels of use or change in the intended uses of the product or its substitutes.

(l) Routine maintenance and minor construction activities such as:

(1) Repair to or replacement of equipment or structural components (e.g., door, roof, or window) of facilities controlled by FDA;

(2) Lease extensions, renewals, or succeeding leases;

(3) Construction or lease construction of 10,000 square feet or less of occupiable space;

(4) Relocation of employees into existing owned or currently leased space;

(5) Acquisition of 20,000 square feet or less of occupiable space in a structure that was substantially completed before the issuance of solicitation for offers; and

(6) Acquisition of between 20,000 square feet and 40,000 square feet of occupiable space if it constitutes less than 40 percent of the occupiable space in a structure that was substantially completed before the solicitation for offers.

(m) Disposal of low-level radioactive waste materials (as defined in the Nuclear Regulatory Commission regulations at 10 CFR 61.2) and chemical waste materials generated in the laboratories serviced by the contracts administered by FDA, if the waste is disposed of in compliance with all applicable Federal, State, and local requirements.

[62 FR 40592, July 29, 1997, as amended at 65 FR 56479, Sept. 19, 2000; 80 FR 57535, Sept. 24, 2015]

The classes of actions listed in this section are categorically excluded and, therefore, ordinarily do not require the preparation of an EA or an EIS:

(a) Action on an NDA, abbreviated application, application for marketing approval of a biologic product, or a supplement to such applications, or action on an OTC monograph, if the action does not increase the use of the active moiety.

(b) Action on an NDA, abbreviated application, or a supplement to such applications, or action on an OTC monograph, if the action increases the use of the active moiety, but the estimated concentration of the substance at the point of entry into the aquatic environment will be below 1 part per billion.

(c) Action on an NDA, abbreviated application, application for marketing approval of a biologic product, or a supplement to such applications, or action on an OTC monograph, for substances that occur naturally in the environment when the action does not alter significantly the concentration or distribution of the substance, its metabolites, or degradation products in the environment.

(d) Withdrawal of approval of an NDA or an abbreviated application.

(e) Action on an IND.

(f) Testing and release by the Food and Drug Administration of lots or batches of a licensed biologic product.

(g) Establishment of bioequivalence requirements for a human drug or a comparability determination for a biologic product subject to licensing.

(h) Issuance, revocation, or amendment of a standard for a biologic product.

(i) Revocation of a license for a biologic product.

(j) Action on an application for marketing approval for marketing of a biologic product for transfusable human blood or blood components and plasma.

[62 FR 40592, July 29, 1997, as amended at 63 FR 26697, May 13, 1998; 64 FR 399, Jan. 5, 1999; 70 FR 14980, Mar. 24, 2005]

The classes of actions listed in this section are categorically excluded and, therefore, ordinarily do not require the preparation of an EA or an EIS:

(a) Issuance, amendment, or repeal of a food standard.

(b) Action on a request for exemption for investigational use of a food additive if the food additive to be shipped under the request is intended to be used for clinical studies or research.

(c) Approval of a color additive petition to change a provisionally listed color additive to permanent listing for use in food, drugs, devices, or cosmetics.

(d) Testing and certification of batches of a color additive.

(e) Issuance of an interim food additive regulation.

(f) Establishment or amendment of a regulation for a food substance as GRAS under the conditions of its intended use for humans or animals under parts 182, 184, 186, 582, or 584 of this chapter, and establishment or amendment of a regulation for a prior-sanctioned food ingredient, as defined in §§ 170.3(l) and 181.5(a) of this chapter, if the substance or food ingredient is already marketed in the United States for the proposed use.

(g) Issuance and enforcement of regulations relating to the control of communicable diseases or to interstate conveyance sanitation under parts 1240 and 1250 of this chapter.

(h) Approval of a request for diversion of adulterated or misbranded food for humans or animals to use as animal feeds.

(i) Approval of a food additive petition, establishment or amendment of a regulation for a food substance as GRAS under the conditions of its intended use for humans or animals under parts 182, 184, 186, 582, or 584 of this chapter, the granting of a request for exemption from regulation as a food additive under § 170.39 of this chapter, or allowing a notification submitted under 21 U.S.C. 348(h) to become effective, when the substance is present in finished food-packaging material at not greater than 5 percent-by-weight and is expected to remain with finished food-packaging material through use by consumers or when the substance is a component of a coating of a finished food-packaging material.

(j) Approval of a food additive petition, establishment or amendment of a regulation for a food substance as GRAS under the conditions of its intended use for humans or animals under parts 182, 184, 186, 582, or 584 of this chapter, the granting of a request for exemption from regulation as a food additive under § 170.39 of this chapter, or allowing a notification submitted under 21 U.S.C. 348(h) to become effective, when the substance is to be used as a component of a food-contact surface of permanent or semipermanent equipment or of another food-contact article intended for repeated use.

(k) Approval of a food additive petition or color additive petition, establishment or amendment of a regulation for a food substance as GRAS under the conditions of its intended use for humans or animals under parts 182, 184, 186, 582, or 584 of this chapter, or allowing a notification submitted under 21 U.S.C. 348(h) to become effective, for substances added directly to food that are intended to remain in food through ingestion by consumers and that are not intended to replace macronutrients in food.

(l) Approval of a petition for color additives used in contact lenses, sutures, filaments used as supporting haptics in intraocular lenses, bone cement, and in other FDA-regulated products having similarly low levels of use.

(m) Action to prohibit or otherwise restrict or reduce the use of a substance in food, food packaging, or cosmetics.

(n) Issuance, amendment, or revocation of a regulation pertaining to infant formulas.

(o) Approval of a food additive petition for the intended expression product(s) present in food derived from new plant varieties.

(p) Issuance, amendment, or revocation of a regulation in response to a reference amount petition as described in § 101.12(h) of this chapter, a nutrient content claim petition as described in § 101.69 of this chapter, a health claim petition as described in § 101.70 of this chapter, or a petition pertaining to the label declaration of ingredients as described in § 10.30 of this chapter.

(q) Approval of a food additive petition, the granting of a request for exemption from regulation as a food additive under § 170.39 of this chapter, or allowing a notification submitted under 21 U.S.C. 348(h) to become effective for a substance registered by the Environmental Protection Agency under FIFRA for the same use requested in the petition, request for exemption, or notification.

(r) Approval of a food additive petition or color additive petition, establishment or amendment of a regulation for a food substance as GRAS under the conditions of its intended use for humans or animals under parts 182, 184, 186, 582, or 584 of this chapter, or allowing a notification submitted under 21 U.S.C. 348(h) to become effective for a substance that occurs naturally in the environment, when the action does not alter significantly the concentration or distribution of the substance, its metabolites, or degradation products in the environment.

[62 FR 40592, July 29, 1997, as amended at 65 FR 30355, May 11, 2000; 76 FR 59248, Sept. 26, 2011; 81 FR 55047, Aug. 17, 2016]

The classes of actions listed in this section are categorically excluded and, therefore, ordinarily do not require the preparation of an EA or an EIS:

(a) Action on an NADA, abbreviated application, request for determination of eligibility for indexing, a supplement to such applications, or a modification of an index listing, if the action does not increase the use of the drug. Actions to which this categorical exclusion applies may include:

(1) An animal drug to be marketed under the same conditions of approval as a previously approved animal drug;

(2) A combination of previously approved animal drugs;

(3) A new premix or other formulation of a previously approved animal drug;

(4) Changes specified in § 514.8(b)(3), (b)(4), or (c)(3) of this chapter;

(5) A change of sponsor; or

(6) A previously approved animal drug to be contained in medicated feed blocks under § 510.455 of this chapter or as a liquid feed supplement under § 558.5 of this chapter.

(b) [Reserved]

(c) Action on an NADA, abbreviated application, request for determination of eligibility for indexing, a supplement to such applications, or a modification of an index listing, for substances that occur naturally in the environment when the action does not alter significantly the concentration or distribution of the substance, its metabolites, or degradation products in the environment.

(d) Action on an NADA, abbreviated application, request for determination of eligibility for indexing, a supplement to such applications, or a modification of an index listing, for:

(1) Drugs intended for use in nonfood animals;

(2) Anesthetics, both local and general, that are individually administered;

(3) Nonsystemic topical and ophthalmic animal drugs;

(4) Drugs for minor species, including wildlife and endangered species, when the drug has been previously approved for use in another or the same species where similar animal management practices are used; and

(5) Drugs intended for use under prescription or veterinarian's order for therapeutic use in terrestrial species.

(e) Action on an INAD.

(f) Action on an application submitted under section 512(m) of the act.

(g) Withdrawal of approval of an NADA or an abbreviated NADA or removal of a new animal drug from the index.

(h) Withdrawal of approval of a food additive petition that reduces or eliminates animal feed uses of a food additive.

[62 FR 40592, July 29, 1997, as amended at 71 FR 74782, Dec. 13, 2006; 72 FR 69119, Dec. 6, 2007; 85 FR 72907, Nov. 16, 2020]

The classes of actions listed in this section are categorically excluded and, therefore, ordinarily do not require the preparation of an EA or an EIS:

(a) Action on a device premarket notification submission under subpart E of part 807 of this chapter.

(b) Classification or reclassification of a device under part 860 of this chapter, including the establishment of special controls, if the action will not result in increases in the existing levels of use of the device or changes in the intended use of the device or its substitutes.

(c) Issuance, amendment, or repeal of a standard for a class II medical device or an electronic product, and issuance of exemptions or variances from such a standard.

(d) Approval of a PMA or a notice of completion of a PDP or amended or supplemental applications or notices for a class III medical device if the device is of the same type and for the same use as a previously approved device.

(e) Changes in the PMA or a notice of completion of a PDP for a class III medical device that do not require submission of an amended or supplemental application or notice.

(f) Issuance of a restricted device regulation if it will not result in increases in the existing levels of use or changes in the intended uses of the product or its substitutes.

(g) Action on an application for an IDE or an authorization to commence a clinical investigation under an approved PDP.

(h) Issuance of a regulation exempting from preemption a requirement of a State or political subdivision concerning a device, or a denial of an application for such exemption.

(i) Approval of humanitarian device exemption under subpart H of part 814 of this chapter.

[62 FR 40592, July 29, 1997, as amended at 70 FR 69277, Nov. 15, 2005]

The classes of actions listed in this section are categorically excluded and, therefore, normally do not require the preparation of an EA or an EIS:

(a) Issuance of an order finding a tobacco product substantially equivalent under section 910(a)(2)(B) of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act;

(b) Issuance of an order finding a tobacco product not substantially equivalent under section 910(a) of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act, denial of a request for an exemption under 21 CFR part 1107 from the requirement of demonstrating substantial equivalence, issuance of an order under section 910(c) of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act that a new tobacco product may not be introduced or delivered for introduction into interstate commerce, or issuance of an order under section 911 of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act that a modified risk tobacco product may not be introduced or delivered for introduction into interstate commerce;

(c) Rescission or temporary suspension of an order authorizing the marketing of a new tobacco product under section 910 of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act;

(d) Rescission of an order authorizing the marketing of a modified risk tobacco product under section 911 of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act; and

(e) Rescission of an order granting an exemption request under § 1107.1 of this chapter.

[80 FR 57535, Sept. 24, 2015]