Statutory Review of the Pest Control Products Act

Pest Management Regulatory Agency
16 May, 2013

The current  Pest Control Products Act came into force on 28 June 2006, formalizing into law Pest Management Regulatory Agency (PMRA) policies protecting human health and the environment by: prioritizing protection for children and pregnant women, accounting for pesticide exposure from food and water sources, ensuring only pesticides that make a useful contribution to pest management are registered, and registering lower-risk products more quickly.

The current Act also imposes stronger post-registration control of pesticides. The Act provides the power of law to the PMRA's re-evaluation policy, requiring all pest control products be re-evaluated on a 15-year cycle, and gives the Minister of Health the authority to remove a pesticide from the market if the data required to re-evaluate it are not supplied. Under the Act, registrants must report incidents relating to pesticides and pesticide sales data. Furthermore, the Act provides substantial powers of inspection to ensure compliance and allows for fines of up to $1 million for the most serious offences.

This modern Act ensures the transparency of the pesticide regulatory system. It formalizes the requirement for public consultation on major pesticide registration and re-evaluation decisions, as well as on policies, guidelines and codes of practice related to pesticide regulation. It also allows public inspection of the information and data reviewed by the PMRA to approve pesticides for registration.

Subsection 80.1 requires that the Act be reviewed every seven years; therefore, a review is planned for 2013. 

How to Get Involved

The PMRA invites stakeholders and the public to identify any substantive concerns with the Pest Control Products Act and its administration. Please reference the appropriate provision number of the Act when submitting comments.

This consultation is open for a 30-day comment period. Interested parties are encouraged to provide written comments by 15 June 2013. Please submit written comments to the PMRA's Regulatory Affairs section.

Input received during this consultation will be considered by the government during the statutory review.

Reporting to Canadians

Health Canada will make the results of this consultation available on the Pesticides and Pest Management portion of Health Canada's website.