Quick Resources
- Data Requirements for pesticide registration
- Registration Service Fees
- Registration Kit & Forms
- Registration Review
- Reregistration Eligibility Decisions (REDs)
- Templates for Use in Developing Pesticide Study Documents
- Child-Resistant Packaging (CRP)
- Letter from Universities regarding the strobilurin, pyraclostrobin (Headline), supplemental label (5 pp, 117 K PDF)
Note: The Agency is looking into the concerns expressed by the authors of this letter and will make its response publicly available. - More...
EPA and the states (usually that state's agriculture office) register or license pesticides for use in the United States. EPA receives its authority to register pesticides under the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA). States are authorized to regulate pesticides under FIFRA and under state pesticide laws. States may place more restrictive requirements on pesticides than EPA. Pesticides must be registered both by EPA and the state before distribution.
Some key EPA and state pesticide regulatory activities include:
- Evaluating Potential New Pesticides and Uses
- New Approaches to Minor Uses
- Providing for Special Local Needs and Emergency Situations
- Review of Registered Pesticides
- Registering Pesticide Producing Establishments
- Enforcing Pesticide Requirements
EPA also regulates pesticides imported for use in the U.S. and participates in a wide variety of international activities, such as regulatory agreements and coordination activites.
Evaluating Potential New Pesticides and Uses
Federal law requires that before selling or distributing a pesticide in the United States, a person or company must obtain registration, or license, from EPA. Before registering a new pesticide or new use for a registered pesticide, EPA must first ensure that the pesticide, when used according to label directions, can be used with a reasonable certainty of no harm to human health and without posing unreasonable risks to the environment. To make such determinations, EPA requires more than 100 different scientific studies and tests from applicants. Where pesticides may be used on food or feed crops, EPA also sets tolerances (maximum pesticide residue levels) for the amount of the pesticide that can legally remain in or on foods.
Most states conduct a review of the pesticide label to ensure that it complies with federal labeling requirements and any additional state restrictions of use. To learn more about state pesticide requirements, visit the American Association of State Pesticide Control Officials.
States may require the registration of pesticides and inert ingredients that are exempt (considered very safe) from the requirements of registration under Section 25b of FIFRA.
New Approaches to Minor Uses
Minor uses of pesticides are those for which the total United States production for a crop is fewer than 300,000 acres. Minor use also applies to pesticide uses which do not provide sufficient economic incentive for a registrant to support initial or continuing registrations. This page details EPA's activities toward increasing communication with minor use stakeholders, coordinating activities with between EPA, United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS), and expediting registrations for minor use pesticides.
Providing for Special Local Needs and Emergency Situations
States have authority under Section 24(c) of FIFRA to add uses to pesticides based on special local needs. States may not register new active ingredients under Section 24(c).
Other federal agencies or an authorized state official may request that EPA allow the use of an unregistered active ingredient or an additional use for a registered pesticide to respond to emergency conditions under Section 18 of FIFRA for a specific period of time. EPA may approve or disapprove this request. The Section 18 database includes records for all Section 18 Emergency Exemptions received by EPA.
Review of Registered Pesticides
EPA ensures that each registered pesticide continues to meet the highest standards of safety to protect human health and the environment. The Agency has several programs to ensure the review of registered pesticides, including reregistration, tolerance reassessment, registration review, and special review.
Registering Pesticide Producing Establishments
Pesticide producing establishments must be registered with EPA under Section 7 of FIFRA. EPA regional offices administer the registration of pesticide producing establishments and assign EPA establishment numbers.
Enforcing Pesticide Requirements
States may be delegated primary enforcement responsibility for pesticide use violations. The states have this authority when they have adopted and are implementing pesticide use regulations or when they have entered into a cooperative agreement with EPA for specific pesticide enforcement.
Quick Finder |
Registering Pesticides
How EPA registers new pesticides
Conventional
Pesticides, Biopesticides, Antimicrobials, Registration
Fact Sheet, Data Requirements, Registration
Service Fees, Registration
Application Kit, Registration
Workplan, Electronic
Data Submission, Templates
for Use in Developing Pesticide Study Documents, Pesticide
Registration Notices, Special
Local Needs Registration (24C), Reduced-Risk
Pesticides, Inert
Ingredients, Section
18 database, more...
Pesticide-Producing Establishments
Registering a pesticide-producing establishment
and submitting required reports
Reevaluation
The review of registered pesticides for compliance with current safety standards
Reregistration
Fact Sheet, Registration Review, Candidates
for Reregistration Decisions, Reregistration Chemical
Status, Reregistration
Eligibility Decisions (REDs), Tolerance
Reassessment, Registration Review Status, NRDC
Consent Decree, Other
Resources
Information about how to safely handle and use pesticide products
Consumer Labeling Initiative
Laws
Legal requirements governing pesticides
Federal Insecticide, Fungicide,
and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA), Federal
Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FFDCA) , Food
Quality Protection Act (FQPA), Pesticide
Registration Improvement Act of 2003, Endangered
Species Act (ESA)
International Activities
How EPA interacts with other countries in regulating
pesticides, import/export of pesticides and treated foods
Import and Export Trade
Requirements, International Agreements and Treaties
Agreements, Work Sharing, Harmonization, and Technical Assistance, more...
Adverse Effects
Reporting
Requirements for registrants to report harmful
effects of registered pesticides
Final
Regulations for Reporting, Guidance
on Adverse Effects Reporting, Corrections
to Final Regulations, Voluntary
Incident Reporting Forms and Instructions, CFR
version of Regulations, more...
Storage and Disposal
How pesticides should be stored and disposal of
unwanted pesticides
Household Consumers,
Farmers, Registrants
Restricted and Canceled Uses
Information on pesticides that have been canceled,
or that can only be used by specially-trained persons
Restricted
Use Products Report, Banned
and Restricted Pesticides, more...
Pesticide Tolerances
How EPA sets tolerances; status of tolerance
requests; revocation of tolerances
Tolerance Petitions, Establishment of a Tolerance, Proposed
Revocation of a Tolerance, Final
Revocation of a Tolerance, more...
Registration Information Sources
Databases with information on pesticides, their
uses, names, labels, etc.
Food
and Feed Vocabulary, Label
Review Manual, Pesticide
Data Submitters List, Pesticide
Product Label System, more...