New rules on import of pesticides to UAE

dubai — Any establishment that wants to register a pesticide in the UAE must obtain a licence from the Ministry of Climate Change and Environment (MoCCAE), according to a new decree issued by the ministry.

Ministerial Decree No. 27 of the year 2018 also says that pesticides can only be imported, exported or circulated in the UAE after they are registered with the ministry.

The decree concerning the registration and import of all types of pesticides (Chemical pesticides, biopesticide, organic pesticides, ready-to-use pesticides, pheromones, attractants, repellents, and additives for pesticide formulations) will come into force three months after it is published in the Official Gazette.

According to the resolution, banned pesticides cannot be registered or imported into the country. It also states that to register a chemical pesticide, an establishment needs to submit an application to the ministry along with a registration certificate, depending on whether the pesticide is registered or not in its country of origin, and a registration certificate for the pesticide from a country other than the country of origin.

For pesticides that are not registered in their country of origin, two registration certificates in English from two different countries of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) must be presented. In addition to that, a pesticide composition certificate, containing percentages of active and inert ingredients, issued by a public lab that is approved by the registration authority and meets the GLP requirements, must be submitted.

The new decree also mandates that in case the pesticide’s trade name differs in the registration certificates issued in both OCED countries, a second composition certificate is required.

Under the new resolution, government research centres and accredited public and private universities are permitted to import pesticides without prior registration as they are for scientific research purposes, given that they do not exceed 20 litres/kg and that they are labelled as for research use only and not intended for sale. Exhibitors at local conferences can also import and display unregistered pesticides, on the conditions that they present a brief about the exhibition.

The resolution also states that the registration certificate and the import permit issued to a facility are non-transferrable, and that pesticides can only be imported from the manufacturing company in the country of origin or its branches.