Regulation of Pest Control Products in Canada

Help on accessing alternative formats, such as Portable Document Format (PDF), Microsoft Word and PowerPoint (PPT) files, can be obtained in the alternate format help section.

Trish MacQuarrie
Director General
Policy, Communications and Regulatory Affairs Directorate

• Pest Control Product Regulation Overview
• Introduction to the PMRA
• Federal Legislation
  • Acts and Regulations
• Policies, Guidelines, Programs

Regulation of Pest Control Products in Canada - An Overview

• Federal Government
  • Health Canada's Pest Management Regulatory Agency
    • Responsible for registering pest control products (premarket assessments), re-evaluating registered products and setting maximum residue limits
• Provincial Government
  • Departments/Ministries of Environment or Agriculture
    • Responsible for the sale, use, storage, transportation and disposal of registered pest control products
• Municipal Government *
  • May have authority to enact bylaws that set further conditions on the use of pest control products

Introduction to the PMRA

• The Pest Management Regulatory Agency (PMRA) is equivalent to a branch within Health Canada;
• Established in 1995
• PMRA is responsible for the regulation of pest control products in Canada, as the federal authority under the Pest Control Products Act (PCPA).

PMRA'S Mission

• Protecting the health and environment of Canadians and supporting Canadian competitiveness by regulating pest control products (pesticides) and their use in an effective and transparent manner.

Federal Legislation

• Pest Control Products Act (PCPA)
  • New PCPA in 2006
  • Improves the pest control product regulatory system by:
    • Increasing transparency
    • Strengthening human health and environmental protection
    • Strengthening post-registration control of pest control products
  • Number of provisions in the PCPA formalize policies and practices of the PMRA.
• Regulations supporting the PCPA:
  • Pest Control Products Regulations, revised 2006
    • Provisions for describing definitions of terms used in the regulations; types of products exempt from the Act or registration; procedures detailing the registration process, including labeling requirements, packaging, storage and display, distribution, import, research, sampling and detention.
  • List of Formulants and Contaminants of Health or Environmental Concern*
    • Statutory Instrument referenced in the PCPA; Public can access information about substances on the List and test data on which evaluations are based.
  • Sales Information Regulations
    • The Regulations specify the detailed reporting requirements, the timelines for reporting and other requirements related to pesticide sales information reporting
  • Incident Reporting Regulations
    • These regulations specify the detailed reporting requirements, including the type of incidents that must be reported, and under what time frame the reports must be submitted.
  • Administrative Monetary Penalties Regulations
    • Regulations describing the offences under the PCPA and penalties for those offences
  • Cost Recovery Fees
    • Regulations describing the fees required for various applications referred to under the PCPA and Regulations
• Proposed regulations:
  • An improved system to protect proprietary interests in pesticide data in Canada while facilitating generic products
  • Review panel regulations and guidelines for predictability in administrative aspects of the reconsideration process (e.g. panel members)
  • Revise the PCPR to incorporate the Grower Requested Own Use Import Program
  • Pesticide Material Safety Data sheets for workplaces
• In addition to the PCPA and Regulations, the following federal Acts impact on pest management:
  • Pesticide Residue Compensation Act
  • Administrative Monetary Penalties Act
  • Food and Drugs Act

PCPA and the FDA

• PMRA is currently working on a more efficient process for legally setting pesticide Maximum Residue Limits (MRLs):
  • Bring Bill C-28 (Amendment to the Food and Drugs Act) into force to recognize MRLs established directly under the PCPA
  • Amend the Food and Drug Regulations (FDR) for coherence with Bill C-28 (repeal Table II) (February 2008)
  • Develop proposal to amend the FDA to revoke the 0.1 ppm general MRL

Policies, Guidelines, Programs

• Policies, Guidelines and Programs provide additional detail on the Act and Regulations
• Examples
  • Requirements for Submitting Data Index, Documents and Forms (DIR2006-05)
  • Protection of Proprietary Interests in Pesticide Data in Canada (DIR2007-03)
  • Grower Requested Own Use (GROU) Program
• These documents are available on PMRA's website: www.pmra-arla.gc.ca