The Plant Protection Products (Basic Conditions) Regulations 1997

Explanatory Note

(This note is not part of the Regulations)

These Regulations supplement the Plant Protection Products Regulations 1995 (S.I. 1995/887) as amended (S.I. 1996/1940) (“the principal Regulations”) which implement in Great Britain Council Directive 91/414/EEC concerning the placing of plant protection products on the market, as amended. The principal Regulations require that plant protection products may not be placed on the market or used within Great Britain unless they have been approved by the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food and the Secretary of State (“the Ministers”) and make provision concerning the process of application for, evaluation and granting of approvals, which may be given subject to conditions, and the packaging and labelling of approved plant protection products.

The Regulations have been made for the purpose of controlling pesticides in implementation of Part III of the Food and Environment Protection Act 1985 (“the 1985 Act”) and apply to all plant protection products which are subject to the principal Regulations (the latter contain transitional provisions which enable certain plant protection products to remain temporarily subject to the Control of Pesticides Regulations 1986) and are substances, preparations or micro-organisms prepared or used for destroying pests, protecting plants or plant products from harmful organisms, or rendering harmful creatures harmless, or regulating the growth of plants. Plant protection products to which these Regulations apply are described as prescribed plant protection products.

The Regulations specify additional controls which apply not only to the placing on the market and use of prescribed plant protection products but also their advertisement and storage. No-one may advertise and store a prescribed plant protection product unless the Ministers have given their approval under the Regulations to its advertisement and storage and the conditions of such approval are complied with (regulations 4(1)(a) and (c)(i), (2)(a) and (c)(i), 5 and 6). The Regulations provide a right of access to information (study reports and evaluations) concerning approvals granted under the Regulations, qualified by a prohibition on making commercial use of any information made available (regulation 9).

The Regulations also provide that no-one may advertise, store, sell, supply or use prescribed plant protection products unless the Ministers have given the appropriate consent under the Regulations and the conditions of such consent are complied with; when they have given a consent the Ministers are required to publish a notice specifying the fact (regulations 4(1)(b) and (c)(ii), (2)(b) and (c)(ii), (3) to (5) and 7).

The Schedules to the Regulations set out conditions to which the consents (once given) are automatically subject. Schedule 1 contains restrictions on material which may be contained in advertisements of prescribed plant protection products (which include advertisement material stored or transmitted by electronic means) and specifies minimum information which must be included. Schedule 2, which governs the sale, supply and storage of prescribed plant protection products, contains provision on the instruction, training and guidance of employees, a general obligation to protect human, animal and plant health, safeguard the environment and avoid the pollution of water and special provisions (entailing a requirement in certain circumstances to obtain a certificate of competence recognised by the Ministers) concerning the sale, supply and storage of plant protection products approved under the principal Regulations for agricultural use (as defined).

Schedule 3, which governs the use of prescribed plant protection products, similarly contains provision on instruction, training and guidance (which are applicable to employers, employees and those giving instruction to others) and a general obligation to protect human, animal and plant health, safeguard the environment and avoid the pollution of water; in addition there are provisions imposing an obligation on users to confine the application to the area intended to be treated, setting out requirements on the use of prescribed plant protection products with adjuvants (which include a requirement that the adjuvant be specified in a list published by the Ministers) and on tank mixing and providing a requirement (subject to a limited exception) for those using prescribed plant protection products approved for agricultural use either in the course of a commercial service or (in all cases) where the user was born later than 31 December 1964 to use it in accordance with an approval for a specified class of use or otherwise either hold a certificate of competence recognised by the Ministers or be supervised by someone holding a certificate.

Schedule 4 governs the use of prescribed plant protection products by aerial application, setting out the procedures which aerial users are required to follow.

The Regulations empower each of the Ministers in the event of a breach of the Regulations (including breaches of an approval or the consents) to seize or dispose of prescribed plant protection products or anything treated with a prescribed plant protection product, require their seizure or disposal, require the taking of remedial action (which can where necessary include recovery of a prescribed plant protection product from the market) and require the re-exportation of prescribed plant protection products imported in contravention of any such breach (regulation 8).

Other enforcement powers and offences and penalties for breaching the Regulations are contained in sections 16, 19, 21 and 22 of, and Schedule 2 to, the 1985 Act.

These Regulations were notified in draft to the European Commission in accordance with Council Directive 83/189/EEC laying down a procedure for the provision of information in the field of technical standards and regulations (OJ No. L109, 26.4.83, p. 8), as amended.

A compliance cost assessment has been prepared and a copy has been placed in the library of each House of Parliament. Copies of the compliance cost assessment can be obtained from the Pesticides Safety Directorate of the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, Room 308, Mallard House, Kings Pool, 3 Peasholme Green, York YO1 2PX.