Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development

The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development's (OECD) has 12 subprograms under its Environmental Health and Safety (EHS) Program.

The OECD Biocide Program focuses on non-agricultural pesticides such as disinfectants, sterilants and wood preservatives, while the Pesticide Program focuses on chemical and biological "plant protection" pesticides used in agriculture and other settings. Their goal is to help OECD countries share the work of pesticide risk assessment and find new approaches for reducing risk.

Health Canada's Pest Management Regulatory Agency (PMRA) represents Canadian interests in the OECD Pesticide Program's Working Group on Pesticides (formerly known as the Pesticide Forum). Meetings are held every eight to nine months in conjunction with the OECD Joint Meeting of the Chemical Committee and the Working Party on Chemicals. Canada has taken and continues to take an active role in many projects of the OECD Pesticide Program, including Global Joint Reviews of pesticide submissions to register products.

Guidance documents for OECD pesticide registration have been developed. The first OECD global joint review completed in April 2008, involved co-operation amongst Health Canada's PMRA and pesticide regulatory authorities of the United States, United Kingdom, Ireland, Italy, Australia and New Zealand, in a review of an electronic submission for the registration of a new insecticide. The review was completed in 15 months, a significant improvement to the typical 21-24 month review standard for reviews conducted independently by these countries.