Developing a Harmonized Pesticide Classification System

Work undertaken by the Federal/ Provincial/ Territorial Committee on Pest Management and Pesticides

August, 2003

Presentation Overview• Pesticide Management• Provincial Classification of Pesticides• Benefits of a Harmonized System• Proposed Harmonized Classification System• Improved Regulatory Requirements• Stakeholder Input• Public Consultation Process• Key Outstanding Issues• Next Steps: Towards Implementation of a Harmonized

Pesticide Classification System

Pesticide Management

Federal• Pesticide products are registered by the federal Pest Management

Regulatory Agency (PMRA), under Health Canada

• Once registered, pesticides are assigned a classification designation according to risk

Provincial• Provincial governments use classification as a basis for regulations to

control the sale and use of pesticides, and to set training and licensing

requirements

Provincial Classification of Pesticides

• In addition to federal classification, four provinces (QC, ON, AB, BC) assign a provincial classification to pesticides

• Each provincial classification system is unique• Adoption of a harmonized system would allow

provinces to meet provincial regulatory objectives and eliminate the need for unique provincial classification systems

Benefits of a Harmonized System

• Developing classification criteria is a difficult task; combining efforts across jurisdictions results in a comprehensive, more defensible set of criteria

• The introduction of additional classification categories allows regulatory controls to be better matched to the degree of product risk

• Regulatory controls associated with classification designations will be harmonized to a greater degree between provinces

Benefits of a Harmonized System (cont.)

• The improved harmonized system will assist efforts to focus enforcement activities on the sale and use of higher risk products that pose greater concerns

• Domestic products will be clearly identified for consumers as “higher risk” or “lower risk”

Proposed Harmonized Classification System

• Existing “DOMESTIC” and “COMMERCIAL” classes will each be replaced with two new classes to better distinguish between lower and higher risk products

• New Restricted category will contain only the highest risk products and require explicit provincial authorization for use

Classification CategoriesExisting Federal System Proposed Harmonized System

DOMESTICLower Risk Domestic

Higher Risk Domestic

COMMERCIALLower Risk Commercial

Higher Risk Commercial

RESTRICTED Restricted• highest risk products only,

provincial authorization required

Proposed Harmonized Classification System

Lower Risk Domestic

Lower Risk Commercial

Higher Risk Domestic

Restricted

Higher Risk Commercial

Lower Risk Domestic

Lower Risk Commercial

Higher Risk Domestic

Restricted

Higher Risk Commercial

Stringency of Provincial Regulatory Controls

Improved Regulatory Requirements

• Vendors of Higher Risk Domestic class products will require a minimum level of training, and some degree of vendor/consumer interaction at point of sale will be required

• All users of Higher Risk Commercial products will require training

• Currently, in some provinces private growers using pesticides undergo training on a voluntary basis only

• Restricted products will require provincial authorization for use (trained users only)

Stakeholder Input• The early development of the draft proposal for a harmonized pesticide

classification system included participation and input from the Canadian pesticide manufacturing industry as well as the Canadian Federation of Agriculture

• Federal/Provincial/Territorial Committee members have had ongoing opportunities to comment on the development of the harmonized system

• More recently, a broader stakeholder group had opportunity to comment on aspects of the proposed approach to classifying domestic pesticides, through the Healthy Lawns Strategy

• There was further opportunity for broad stakeholder consultation on the proposal at federal and provincial levels, during the public consultation process

Public Consultation Process

• Held between November, 2002 and February 2003• 27 comments received

• Municipalities, organizations (industry, applicator, consumer groups), federal and provincial departments

• Mostly, strong support for proposal• Industry (pesticide manufacturers) concerned how

the Domestic class split will be undertaken• Classification Implementation Working Group

using comments to strengthen the proposal

Key Outstanding Issues

Issue: Requirements for Sale of Higher Risk Domestic Products

• What degree of interaction between vendors and consumers will be required?

• What will the minimum training requirements for vendors be?

Issue: New Commercial Classification

• When will the use of the new commercial classes be implemented?

• How will training requirements for Higher Risk Commercial products be implemented?

Next Steps: Towards Implementation of a Harmonized Pesticide Classification System

• Development of detailed implementation plans (federal and provincial)

• Implementation of new national Domestic classification categories in the short term (next year)

• Amendment of provincial regulation/programs to align with new classification system

• Implementation of remaining classification categories over the longer term ( 2-3 years)