The responsible authority should conduct periodic or unscheduled reviews of existing registrations, to ensure that new information on product performance or risks is assessed and taken into account in future registrations.

Such reviews may lead to re-registration of the product, with or without new restrictions in use, or it can result in cancellation of the registration.

Click on the relevant arrow box in the chart for further information and options for each step in the process.

The Code of Conduct calls upon governments to establish a re-registration procedure to ensure the periodic review of registered pesticides, thus ensuring that prompt and effective measures can be taken if new information on product performance or risks indicate that regulatory action is needed. Such re-registration procedures may take different forms, depending on national legislation and available resources.

A registration would normally be granted for a limited period of time, the length of which depends on national circumstances and capacity for re-registration review. Before the end of the registration period, registrants should submit an application for re-registration (or renewal of registration) of their product based on the requirements and conditions set by the responsible authority of the country. The application should include any new information about the product that has become available in the intervening period. The responsible authority should then proceed to evaluate the application for re-registration, taking into consideration any new data or information as well as the standard of science and knowledge and any update of requirements that have occurred since the previous registration. If no request for re-registration is submitted at the end of the registration period, the pesticide should be removed from the pesticide register and its continued use should not be allowed.

Since periodic complete re-evaluations of a pesticide are highly resource-intensive, other options for periodic review are available to a responsible authority. They include data call-ins for specific parts of the dossier, partial reviews for those assessments for which important changes of insight have occurred, or reviews of feedback from monitoring programmes. 

Explicit provisions should be made for unscheduled review of registered pesticides when new information becomes available that may affect the efficacy or risk assessments that were carried out previously. Such information may include data on resistance development, adverse health or environmental effects, or changed maximum residue limit requirements for export crops. In such cases, the pesticide registration may need to be reviewed before it formally expires.

Periodic or unscheduled review may lead to re-registration of the pesticide product. This can be under the same conditions, and with the same directions for use and precautions as the previous registration. But review may also lead to a change of use directions or to greater (or less) restrictions in its use, based on new information available to the responsible authority.

However, if the risks of the pesticide product, based on new information or scientific insights, are considered unacceptable, the product registration may be cancelled.

Cancellation of registration is an important part of the registration process. Registration can

be cancelled for the following reasons:

Banning would involve the prohibition of the use of the pesticide in the country to protect human health and the environment. This means that no application for its registration would be entertained.

The registration of a pesticide could be cancelled as a result of the availability of new information showing that the continued registration of the pesticide is undesirable or as a result of the contravention of legal requirements by the registrant. If registrants are unable to comply with the requirements of the responsible authorities, the registration of their products may not be extended after their expiry.

Sometimes registrants, for commercial reasons, do not request for the extension of the registration period of their products, in which case the products will no longer be registered once the registration periods are over. Registrants have also on occasions voluntarily withdrawn the registration of their products as a result of safety concerns or for commercial reasons.