Pesticide law
UK Legislation
The use, supply, storage and advertisement of pesticides is regulated by a number of pieces of legislation including, for Great Britain, the Control of Pesticides Regulations (COPR) and Plant Protection Products Regulations (PPPR). PPPR is the newer legislation and implements a European Directive (91/414/EEC) which regulates ‘Plant Protection Products’, these include agricultural pesticides and growth regulators.
The use of pesticides is also regulated by COSHH (the Control of Substances Hazardous to Health).
European Legislation
European legislation aims to harmonise the registration of plant protection products across the EU. In the UK this is implemented under PPPR. All existing pesticides used in Europe are being re-evaluated (reviewed) according to standards set out in relevant EU directives.
The EU system is based upon a two-tier registration system. Active ingredients are assessed at Community level for inclusion on a positive list (known as Annex 1). Products containing chemicals listed on Annex 1 must then be assessed and registered by Member states. These assessments need only consider areas relevant to the products that were not covered in the assessment for Annex 1 inclusion.
Pesticide Approvals
All pesticides used in the UK must be approved. This includes most experimental uses.
In most cases this will take the form of a commercial product approval, details of which are included in our product database. Occasionally, particularly for minor crops, additional off-label approvals are given which permit the use of existing commercially approved products on additional crops.
A few chemicals widely used for other purposes have minor uses as pesticides. These are approved as commodity substances.
Imported products
You may not use a product imported from overseas unless it has been granted a UK approval. Where a product is identical to one available in the UK a ‘Parallel import’ approval may be obtained.
Residues
The maximum permitted residue levels for pesticides in crops (MRLs) are laid out in legislation. MRLs are not safety levels, they are based on the maximum residue that could be present if a pesticide has been used according to its approval.
Pesticide Use and Enforcement
Statutory codes of practice give advice to users, suppliers and others on their legal responsibilities and how to meet them. Various bodies are responsible for ensuring compliance with the legislation.