August 2, 2011, CCM – On July 21, 2011, the Legislative Affairs Office of China State Council released a draft for seeking opinions on Regulations on Pesticide Management, with the purpose to further regulate domestic pesticide industry and ensure domestic food security.
According to CCM's latest issue of Crop Protection China News, regulations on Pesticide Management have experienced several revisions after it was issued and implemented on May 8, 1997. However, the last revised version of Regulations on Pesticide Management on July 27, 2002 no longer keeps pace with the great development of domestic pesticide industry in recent years. Moreover, food security accidents triggered by irrational use of pesticides which frequently happened in recent years have alerted Chinese Government the emergency to fix the deficiencies of pesticide management.
Hence, Chinese Government decides to amend this policy again by carrying out a more intensive one over pesticide management. The draft released for seeking opinions this time includes eight chapters and 84 articles, covering registration, production, sales, etc. of domestic pesticide industry.
Compared with the current pesticide management policy, the draft is formed by adding one chapter and 35 articles with more intense regulations into the current one.
According to the draft of Regulations on Pesticide Management, two of the items may deeply impact domestic pesticide industry.
1. Cancel the temporary registration of pesticides and further standardize the processes of pesticide registration, mainly emphasizing on pesticide safety, the effectiveness evaluation of pesticides, higher investigation requirements, etc.
2. Set up license system of pesticide business and the validity period of pesticide business license is three years. Cancel the restriction that only some pesticide operators, such as pesticide supply and marketing cooperatives, agricultural technology extension station, etc., own the qualification to apply for pesticide business licenses, stating that individual business dealers could also apply for pesticide business if they meet the requirement of pesticide operation standards according to the regulations of local government.
Between the two large modifications, cancelling the temporary registration of pesticides is considered to be the most critical one. China has started the temporary registration system of pesticides since 2001. Owing to its much lower fees and shorter registration processes on getting the permission of pesticide production, it has provided great benefits to either most pesticide players in China or the development of domestic pesticide industry.
However, fast development of domestic pesticide industry has offered a positive environment for pesticide business, thus more and more pesticide players sprang up in China in the last decade which has somewhat given rise to a chaotic market in domestic pesticide industry.
To better manage domestic pesticide market and cut down the numbers of pesticide players, cancelling the temporary registration of pesticides is considered to be an irresistible trend. Actually Chinese government has also considered setting up a special registration system which is popular in international pesticide industry in response to emergency situation.
As for setting up license system of pesticide business, it is another trend of domestic pesticide management in the future. Owing to the great negative effects caused by food security events in recent years, such as poison cowpea in Hainan Province, two main pesticide consumption provinces in China are carrying out or to carry out license system of pesticide business, namely Hainan Province and Shandong Province.
The implementation of license system is believed to be nationally promoted after the revision and release of Regulations on Pesticide Management in the near future. However, there may be some kinds of regional disparities according to the real situation in local areas.
Apparently, it may be difficult to understand the government's decision on permitting individual dealers to apply for pesticide business while Hainan is carrying out the Implementation Measures of Hainan Province Pesticide Wholesale and Retail Business License Management Regulation (Trial), saying it is going to limit the number of individual pesticide dealers to 205 in the whole island from more than 4000.
According to the draft, although it intends to permit individual dealers to apply for pesticide business, it still sets a higher threshold but not clearly stated in the draft. The requirement may be released in the coming implementary provisions and there will be some differences among provinces.
Outlook
Actually, the amendment of Regulations on Pesticide Management had been launched last year and it was expected to be released by the end of 2010. However, owing to a wide divergence of opinion among government departments, pesticide players, etc., the issue of the policy has to be pushed off and revised over and over again.
The two big changes in the draft will largely impact current pesticide market in the future. Although the implementation may encounter a lot of difficulties, combining with implementation with China Pesticide Industry Policy, domestic pesticide industry will enter a new era in the future.
Source: Crop Protection China News 1114
http://www.cnchemicals.com/Newsletter/NewsletterDetail_16.html
Content of Crop Protection China News 1114:
New Regulations on Pesticide Management to be nailed down soon
New policy boosts pesticide stocks against market trend
China newly issues 861 pesticide production licenses in H1 2011
China cotton price to hit minimum purchase one
Downturn of domestic glyphosate continues in H1 2011
Domestic imidacloprid export up in H1 2011
Anhui Huilong's expansion kicks off
Rice pests and diseases to be serious in H2 2011
China promotes the professional control on pests
Crop Protection China News,a semimonthly publication issued by CCM International on 15th and 30th(31th)of every month, aims to gain a deep insight into Chinese market, supply the latest market data and strategy support, analyze the newest legislation and policyandgrasp the future market trend.
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