Pesticides methods of analysis
As part of the data requirements for authorising plant protection products and approving active substances, you must submit your methods of analysis. The guidance documents on this page can help you when you are preparing your submission.
You must include methods for determining the active substances and impurities in technical materials and plant protection products, and methods in food, feed and environmental matrices.
You must address both pre-authorisation (data generation) methods and post-authorisation control (monitoring) methods.
Methods should be described fully and validated according to the appropriate guidance. Submissions should include:
- principle of method
- full details of reagents and apparatus
- general sample preparation techniques
- analytical procedure
- details of fortifications and calibrations
- representative chromatograms
- calculations and references
- validation data in line with the appropriate guidance
- details on extraction efficiency for residues methods
Guidance
This guidance will help you prepare your submission. Some of it was produced by the European Commission but is still relevant. Make sure the methods match the residue definitions in the relevant matrices.
Technical guideline on the evaluation of extraction efficiency of residue analytical methods
There is useful OECD guidance on their website:
- Guidance document on Pesticide Residue Analytical Methods Series on Testing and Assessment No 72 and Series on Pesticides No 39 (OECD 2007)
- Guidance document for single laboratory validation of quantitative analytical methods – Guidance used in support of pre-and-post-registration data requirements for plant protection and biocidal products Series on Testing and Assessment No 204 and Series on Pesticides No 9 (OECD 2014)
Before submitting your application, check it is complete against the chemistry section of the applications checklist.