Pesticides Harmful to Humans and Livestock Must Undergo Mandatory 'Safety Re-evaluation'

Amendment and Enforcement of Subordinate Legislation under the Pesticide Control Act

From now on, pesticides harmful to humans and livestock must undergo a mandatory 'safety re-evaluation.'

The Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs announced on the 24th that the 'Pesticide Management Act subordinate regulations' containing this content will be enforced starting from the 25th.

The revised subordinate regulations of the Pesticide Management Act concretize the matters delegated by the law promulgated on October 24th last year and reflect suggestions requested from the field.

First, if a registered pesticide is judged to be harmful, such as posing a risk to humans and livestock, it is clearly stipulated that a safety evaluation of the pesticide must be conducted through the Pesticide Safety Deliberation Committee, and measures such as cancellation of the pesticide must be taken. To prevent pesticide hazards, the safety re-evaluation and other deliberation procedures are explicitly mandated to strengthen pesticide safety management.

For quarantine pesticides supplied directly by manufacturers or importers to users, distribution regulations have been relaxed to allow supply through sellers if the pesticides are of low toxicity. This reflects suggestions made by the Pesticide Association, and through this revision, some quarantine pesticides produced overseas and directly supplied by importers can now be produced and sold through collaboration between existing importers who also operate sales businesses and manufacturers with domestic production facilities, enabling a transition to domestic manufacturing and distribution.

Lee Sang-man, Director of Agricultural and Food Innovation Policy at the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, stated, "To develop the domestic pesticide industry, distribution regulations will be relaxed, but quarantine pesticides will be safely managed through thorough sales history management."