The Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA) and The Environmental Information Regulations 2004 (EIR) give you the right to request information held by the Health & Safety Executive (HSE) including the Chemicals Regulation Directorate (CRD).
Access to personal information about you is covered by the Data Protection Act 1998 (DPA).
General Guidance on how HSE deals with requests under the FOIA and the EIR can be found on HSE's Freedom of Information microsite. The site includes details of HSE's guidance to help staff deal with information requests and comply with HSE’s legal obligations under the Act and Regulations.
Advice and information on how to make requests under the FOIA and EIR can be found in the Information Commissioner's Charter for responsible freedom of information requests.
If you wish to make a request to CRD for information under the FOIA or EIR, or require assistance on making such a request, please contact CRD’s Communications Branch by e-mailing pesticides@hse.gsi.gov.uk.
Freedom of Information Act Publication Scheme & Guide to Information
All public authorities are required to adopt and maintain a guide to information they hold in line with the model publication scheme recommended by the Information Commissioner’s Office. Since becoming part of HSE’s Chemicals Regulation Directorate (CRD), the Pesticides Safety Directorate no longer has a separate publication scheme and, along with the rest of CRD, is now included in HSE’s publication scheme arrangements.
The HSE publication scheme can be found on the HSE website. The scheme contains details of ‘published information’ and ‘information released’. The ‘published information’ is information that HSE routinely makes available and the 'information released' is information of general interest that has been published following a request for it under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA) or the Environmental Information Regulations 2004 (EIR).
Access to Information on Plant Protection Products
The Environmental Information Regulations 2004 (EIR), the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA) and the pesticides legislation all permit a wide range of information about plant protection products and other pesticides and chemicals to be published or made available by the Chemicals Regulation Directorate (CRD). Examples of what can be disclosed are outlined below:
Evaluations
For all plant protection products and biocides first approved or reviewed under the Control of Pesticides Regulations 1986 (as amended) (COPR) there are detailed evaluation documents setting out the assessment made by the independent Advisory Committee on Pesticides (ACP). Evaluation documents also exist for some plant protection products first authorised or reviewed under the Plant Protection Products Regulations 2005.
All evaluation documents are available electronically free of charge. They are also available to the public in hard copy as priced publications.
Data supporting ACP Evaluation Documents
If readers of evaluation documents find them insufficient for their purposes they may, under regulation 8 of the Control of Pesticides Regulations 1986 (as amended in 1997) and regulation 9 of The Plant Protection Products (Basic Conditions) Regulations 1997, apply to inspect the data underlying them at the Chemicals Regulation Directorate's offices in York (for plant protection products) and Bootle (for biocides).
If the request is granted, access will be given for inspection of the study report(s). Access is provided by a reading room facility at York or Bootle. Note taking is permitted but copying is not allowed. In order to protect the legitimate commercial interests of the data owner the following categories of information are excluded from the disclosure arrangements:
- active substance and formulation specification and composition;
- production methods; and
- names and addresses of laboratories, sites and personnel; individual medical details.
Before access is granted, the requester is required to sign an undertaking (copy available in MS Word and Adobe PDF), in line with the above legislation that they will not make commercial use of the data or publish any part of the information provided without the written permission of the competent authority (acting on behalf of Ministers).
Any breach of this undertaking would be a criminal offence under COPR and where commercial interests are involved under civil law.
The Chemicals Regulation Directorate (CRD) keeps a publically accessible register of the names and addresses of applicants for access to data underlying ACP evaluation documents. If you wish to apply to inspect any study reports under these arrangements please contact CRD’s Communications Branch by e-mailing pesticides@hse.gsi.gov.uk.
Pesticides Monitoring Data
Pesticides in Food
Full results of pesticide residues monitoring in food stuffs within the United Kingdom are published quarterly by the Pesticide Residues Committee (PRC). If you wish to find out how other EU countries monitor their produce please visit the European Commission’s website.
Pesticides in Water
For pesticide residues that might occur in water please visit the Drinking Water Inspectorate’s Annual Report page on their website.
Pesticide Use
Information on the use of pesticides in England and Wales is collated by the Pesticide Usage Survey Group, which is based at Defra’s Food and Environment Research Agency. The Science and Advice for Scottish Agriculture (SASA) produce the usage reports for Scotland and the Agri-Food and Biosciences Institute produce the reports for Northern Ireland.
Human and Wildlife Poisoning
All reports of suspected incidents of human and wildlife poisoning are published on an annual basis. Responsibility for investigating incidents where pesticide use/misuse may have affected a person’s health lies with the Pesticide Incident Appraisal Panel which is run by the Health & Safety Executive.
Wildlife incidents are investigated by Defra’s Wildlife Incident Investigation Scheme (WIIS). In support of WIIS Defra and the Joint Nature Conservancy Council run the Campaign Against Illegal Poisoning.
Plant Protection Products Policy and Approval Matters
News of policy and procedural matters regarding plant protection products is available in the form of Regulatory Updates and Information Updates issued by the Chemicals Regulation Directorate (CRD). Product approvals and revocations are published on the website in the online Pesticides Register.
The Advisory Committee on Pesticides
The independent Advisory Committee on Pesticides publishes:
Publications
Many of the documents published on this website, i.e. leaflets, booklets, annual reports, news updates, research reports, published letters and minutes of meetings, are also available in hard copy format. Should you require any of these please contact:
Information Section
Chemicals Regulation Directorate
Mallard House
King’s Pool
3 Peasholme Green
York, YO1 7PX
Telephone: 01904 455775 [International 44 1904 455775]
Fax: 01904 455763 [International 44 1904 455763]
E-mail: pesticides@hse.gsi.gov.uk
