Outline of Pesticide Administration for 2019

    The production, supply and responsible use of pesticides are vital to guarantee the food

    security, agricultural product quality safety, and eco-environmental safety. In 2019, the

    pesticide administration will be performed by seriously acting in the spirit of the Central

    Rural Work Conference and the Central Government Document No.1, following the

    requirements of the new development philosophy, and comprehensively advancing the

    implementation of Regulations on Pesticide Administration (“Regulations”), with the

    supply-side structural reform of agriculture as the principal line, the high-quality and green

    development of agriculture as the objective. The strategy of “combination of long-term and

    short-term objectives, seeking both temporary and permanent solutions, and giving equal

    priority to administration and support” will be adopted to strengthen the innovation in

    mechanism, management, technology and service, with the focus on the key segments

    such as the administrative approval of pesticides, industry supervision and guidance,

    industry sustainability, and the implementation of key measures, so as to continuously

    improve the law-based regulation and science-based administration level of pesticides, and

    boost the green development of agriculture and rural revitalization.

   Ⅰ.Implement the new requirements of institutional reform, and

    comprehensively improve the duty performing capacity of pesticide

    administration departments.

    ◆ Specify the division of regulatory responsibilities for pesticides. In accordance with

    the Regulations and the function adjustment in the new institutional reform, the agriculture

    and rural affairs departments at various levels are required to, based on the requirements of

    comprehensively performing the duties of pesticide registration, production, operation, use and

    quality supervision and management, specify the pesticide administration body, provide relevant

    personnel and conditions, improve the pesticide administration system, and improve their duty

    performing capacity. They shall further specify the division of working responsibilities of various

    entities, coordinate the Central and local forces as well as the forces inside and outside the

    Ministry as a whole to create synergy in order to ensure no dead angle is left in the regulation.

    ◆ Vigorously advance the implementation of key work. The first half of the year will

    see the preparation of national conference on pesticide administration to exchange such

    facts as the implementation of the Regulations and the institutional function adjustment in

    various areas, analyze the problems facing the pesticide administration, as well as arrange

    and deploy the future work of pesticide regulation. In the critical periods of production,

    sales and use of pesticides, working groups will be formed and dispatched to conduct

    research and supervision in key areas, and facilitate full implementation of the key work

    on pesticide regulation.

    ◆ Improve the pesticide administration systems and mechanisms. Three systems and four

    mechanisms on pesticide administration will be established at a faster pace, including the

    information submission system focusing on the production, sales and use of pesticides, the

    major accident reporting system focusing on work safety, people and livestock safety,

    agricultural product quality safety and risk of damage to crops caused by pesticides, and

    the violation notification system focusing on supervision of illegal production, sales and

    use of pesticides. At the same time, the response-on-demand mechanism for pesticide

    administration, enterprise integrity mechanism, emergency disposal mechanism and work

    coordination mechanism will be established to continuously improve the level of law-based,

    science-based, normative and efficient pesticide administration.

    Ⅱ. Implement the new requirements of streamlining administration, delegating more

    powers to lower-level governments and society, improving regulation and optimizing

    services to optimize the service of administrative approval of pesticide.

    ◆ Advance science-based review. In terms of the pesticide registration licensing, the matters,

    duties and other requirements for the ministerial and provincial levels shall be further

    specified in the approval steps of pesticide registration including the acceptance, preliminary

    review, technical review and jury review. The new registration and registration renewal of

    high-risk pesticides, and the registration of homogeneous, outdated, and inefficient pesticides

    shall be controlled strictly. In terms of the pesticide production licensing, local governments

    shall further standardize the review rules, put the review focus on such conditions as the

    compliance of policy, reasonability of layout, advancement of facilities and equipment, lay

    emphasis on the compatibility with laws and regulations on eco-environmental protection

    and work safety, etc., and lead the pesticide industry into high-quality development. In terms

    of the operation licensing, the approval responsibilities of provinces, cities and counties shall

    be specified, with the review focus put on the technical competence, facility conditions and

    management system of operation personnel, with the emphasis laid on the reasonable

    layout of operation stores and the connection of pesticide use, market regulation and other

    segments in order to promote the standardized construction of pesticide operation stores

    and the improvement of their service level.

    ◆ Advance standardized approval. The Regulations shall be deeply implemented to

    further improve the management system for pesticide registration. It will be considered to

    develop normative documents including the Technical Specifications for Review of Pesticide

    Registration, List of Banned and Restricted Pesticide Adjuvants, Standards for Preliminary

    Review of Pesticide Registration, and Directory of Grouped Test of Featured Minor Crops.

    Local governments shall develop the management system for production licensing and

    operation licensing at a faster pace, and specify the approval authority and regulation

    responsibilities of the areas where they locate, further standardize the administrative

    approval, made the service guide available to the public, strictly comply with the conditions,

    process, time limit, result disclosure and other requirements stated in the guide in accordance

    with the approval licensing requirements in order to ensure the administrative approval

    procedures are lawful.

    ◆ Optimize the approval services. It will be considered to develop a policy of green

    channel for the registration of biological pesticides and substitute products of highly toxic

    pesticides, accelerate the technical review and the review process of pesticide registration

    while ensuring the products are efficient and safe, promote the green development of

    pesticides, improve the Internet service platform for administrative approval, actively

    advance the online application, online approval, and e-certificate issuance, and speed up

    the process of paper-free administrative approval service for pesticides.

    Ⅲ. Implement the new requirements of high-quality development, and intensify the

    pesticide industry supervision and guidance.

    ◆ Intensify the pesticide industry guidance.Studies will be organized for the development

    planning and support policies for the pesticide industry, with a view to advance the structural

    optimization and upgrading as well as high-quality development of the pesticide industry.

    Monitoring and early warning of pesticide production, sales and use shall be intensified.

    A report on the development of the pesticide industry shall be released at regular intervals.

    Enterprises shall be guided to reasonably arrange their production, phase out outdated 

    production capacities, encouraged to have merger and reorganization, and avoid blind

    expansion and overproduction. Optimized structure, reasonable layout, improved quality,

    balanced supply and demand of pesticides shall be promoted. Enterprises shall be

    urged and guided to improve their safety management system, put into practice the

    responsibilities of work safety operators, and prevent major safety accidents of pesticides.

    ◆ Steadily advance the phasing-out of highly toxic and outdated pesticides. It will be

    considered to develop policy measures for the phasing-out of highly toxic pesticides.

    Experts will be organized to conduct feasibility study for 10 highly toxic pesticides to be

    phased out, for each of which there will be an integrated assessment report. A time table

    for the phasing-out of highly toxic pesticides and supporting policy measures will be put

    forward according to law and on the basis of science in order to steadily advance the

    phasing out of highly toxic pesticides. Pesticide risk monitoring will be conducted. Risk

    assessment plans will be developed for the pesticide varieties that have been registered

    for more than 15 years, and efforts will be made to complete the risk analysis reports for

    10 pesticides including carbendazol and fipronil in 2019, and stepwise optimize the

    structure of pesticide products, promote the agricultural product quality safety,

    eco-environmental safety, as well as people and livestock safety.

    ◆ Intensify the quality supervision and random inspection. In accordance with the

    requirements of “double-random and one disclosure”, routine random inspection, special

    random inspection and key random inspection will be combined to have random

    inspection for the pesticide products sold on the market, have special random inspection

    for the pesticide products used in the production of fruits, vegetables and tea, have key

    random inspection for the products of pesticide enterprises on the “blacklist”, especially

    supervise the random inspection of violations such as chemical pesticides added to

    biological pesticides, highly toxic and high-risk pesticides added to low toxic pesticides,

    paraquat illegally added to sterilant herbicides such as Aquacide.

    ◆ Intensify the market supervision and inspection. Special inspection actions will be

    implemented to inspect the segments of pesticide production, operation and use,

    especially to inspect whether the pesticide-related licenses are complete, whether the

    production- and operation-related ledgers are sound, whether labels and QR codes are

    marked normatively, whether any banned and restricted pesticides are used, and whether

    any pesticides for the special use of export are sold at home, in order to ensure the

    pesticides are manufactured according to law, operated normatively, and used responsibly.

    ◆ Stringently investigate and punish violations. Measures of “combination of inspection

    and fighting, and connection of administrative and criminal punishment” will be intensified

    to seriously investigation and punish, according to law, such violations as production and

    operation of fake and poor-quality pesticides, black sites illegally manufacturing and selling

    pesticides, and online sales of pesticides. Suspected crimes shall be transferred to

    judiciary authorities in a timely manner. Illegal pesticide production, operation and use will

    be fought firmly. The pesticide integrity system will be build. Fake pesticides will be fought

    while superior ones are supported. The regulation results of pesticide law enforcement will

    be linked to the pesticide registration, production and operation licensing and policy support

    measures. Long-term mechanisms will be improved. 

    Ⅳ. Implement the new requirements of innovative development, and promote the

    sustainable development of the pesticide industry.

 ◆ Intensify the science and technology support to pesticides. According to the new

    requirements for the development of pesticide industry, research investment will be sought

    from multiple sources. Great efforts will be made to build fundamental and critical scientific

    and technological innovation teams. Enterprises will be guided to actively participate in

    scientific and technological innovation and collaborative key research projects, and strive to

    make new breakthroughs in the creation of new pesticides, development of new

    formulations, and renovation of new techniques, etc. for a purpose of continuously

    improving the pesticide innovation capacity and market competitiveness. Support will be

    offered for pesticide administration by organizing and conducting technological research

    and integrated innovation for such weak segments as pesticide residues, human health,

    environmental safety, and responsible use.

    ◆ Speed up the building of the standard system. Aiming at the short board in the

    quality standards for pesticide products and pesticide residue standards, experts will be

    organized to draw up draft standards at a faster pace, strive to complete the universal gas

    chromatography and liquid chromatography standards for pesticide products testing in

    2019-2020, and develop 1000 pesticide residue limit standards.

    ◆ Strengthen the capacity building for pesticide regulation. Crop protection projects

    will be utilized to further advance the capacity building of pesticide risk monitoring in key

    areas, build a group of provincial-level sub-centers and county-level monitoring outlets, and

    provide a group of inspection and testing equipment. A pesticide information monitoring

    and early warning system will be built. The dynamics of production, sales and use of

    pesticides will be tracked in a timely manner by identifying a group of representative

    producers, operation stores and entity users as key monitoring outlets. Pesticide risk

    monitoring and early warning will be conducted. IT-based pesticide administration will be

    advanced more quickly. Ministerial-level digital pesticide regulation platforms and local

    pesticide information platforms will be built. Perfect functions such as administrative

    licensing, supervision and law enforcement, quality tracing, risk prediction and early

    warning, and information statistics will be established. The application of China digital

    regulation platform will be popularized to achieve connectivity of pesticide information

    stepwise.

    ◆ Actively advance the international cooperation and exchange. Cooperation will be

    offered for the performance of the Stockholm Convention, Rotterdam Convention, Basel

    Convention and other pesticide-related conventions. Efforts will be made to hold the 51st

    Session of Codex Committee on Pesticide Residues (CCPR) successfully. Cooperation and

    exchange in pesticide administration will be strengthened with countries along the Belt and

    Road. Attempts will be made to establish multilateral and bilateral cooperation and

    exchange mechanisms. Mutual acceptance of pesticide registration testing data will be

    facilitated actively, and pesticide import and export trades be promoted.

   Contact:
    Croplife China
    Tel: 8610-65254970;
    Fax: 8610-65254771;
    Email: info@croplifechina.org;
    Webstie: www.croplifechina.org;
    Address: Room 6-05A; Bldg A, CITIC, 19 Jianguomenwai Avenue,

    Beijing, P.R.China 100004