The pesticide registration process
Pesticide registration often involves a process with many steps and actions, both by the applicant for registration as by the registration authority. They go from the initial submission of the application by the applicant to the final registration decision by the registrar and subsequent follow-up activities by both entities. The registration process may therefore be lengthy and cumbersome.
However, a minimum number of steps will generally have to be followed to ensure that the application for registration is handled effectively and correctly, the evaluation conducted in a standard manner and decisions taken in a transparent way.
The pesticide registration process consists of a number of steps that generally are done in four phases: pre-registration, registration, post-registration and review of existing registrations. The overall structure of the process generally follows the chart below, but the exact steps may differ from country to country. This depends, among others, on the legal and administrative organization of pesticide registration in the country, and the human and financial resources available.
Steps in the pesticide registration process, from the point of view of the registration authority
Increasingly, regulatory authorities will use dedicated administrative software to manage the process of simultaneously receiving, assessing, reviewing and deciding on numerous applications for registration of a pesticide, as well as renewals, amendments and extensions.
In the Registration strategies tool, different approaches for registration are to a large extent determined by the available resources in the country. A more basic approach, such as registration by analogy, will use fewer resources than a more comprehensive approach, in particular with respect to data generation (by the applicant) and data evaluation (by the registration authority). However, most of the steps in the process of registration by analogy are identical or very similar to a comprehensive registration approach, although the former may be conducted in a (much) less extensive manner.
The various steps in the registration process are therefore described for a comprehensive pesticide registration approach. Where registration by analogy may diverge from this process, it will be clarified in the text.
Click on the relevant arrow box in the chart above for further information and options for each step in the registration process.
The various steps in the pesticide registration process have been described in more detail in the FAO/WHO Guidelines for the registration of pesticides.