Register work involving pesticides

This guidance applies to Great Britain (England, Scotland and Wales).

If your business is located in Northern Ireland go to the DAERA website.

If your work involves plant protection products (PPPs), often referred to as pesticides, you must comply with the Official Controls (Plant Protection Products) Regulations 2020.

This includes registering with the competent authority. Your registration is the way that the competent authority knows you have complied with the regulations.

The competent authority in England is the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (Defra). Defra will also collect this information on behalf of Scottish and Welsh governments.

Who does not need to register

You do not need to register with Defra if:

you use pesticides, but not as part of your work - for example in your garden at your home
your business is in Northern Ireland, the Channel Islands or the Isle of Man

Who needs to register

Users of professional plant protection products

You need to register if you:

use PPPs as part of your work
have PPPs applied by a third party as part of your work
are a contractor hired to apply PPPs for others

When you start using professional PPPs you must register within 3 months of the time you begin.

If you have not yet registered and you have been using professional PPPs for longer than 3 months, you must register as soon as possible.

Businesses that place professional PPPs on the market

You need to register if your business imports, manufactures, processes, distributes, or sells professional plant protection products in Great Britain.

When you start placing PPPs on the market you must register within 3 months.

If you have not yet registered and you have been placing PPPs on the market for more than 3 months, you must register as soon as possible.

If you start placing PPPs on the market you must register within 3 months.

Retailers of amateur PPPs

When you start selling amateur PPPs (such as for use in a home garden), you must register within 3 months.

If you have not yet registered and you have been selling amateur PPPs for more than 3 months, you must register as soon as possible.

Regulations

The EU Official Controls Regulation (OCR) came into force within the European Union on 14 December 2019 and has been retained in UK law under the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018.

The OCR addresses official controls and other official activities performed to ensure the application of food and feed law, rules on animal health and welfare, plant health and for the first time incorporates controls on plant protection products (PPPs). The Official Controls (Plant Protection Products) Regulations 2020 (the 2020 Regulations) apply to the whole of Great Britain and supplement existing regulations that govern the sale and use of PPPs.

The Official Controls (Plant Protection Products) Regulations 2020 (legislation.gov.uk website).