26 February 2025

Purpose

This memo clarifies the Health Canada Pest Management Regulatory Agency's (PMRA) process for giving notice of intent to discontinue the sale of a pest control product under subsection 22(1) of the Pest Control Product Act (the Act) and of subsequent cancellation of the registration.

Background

The requirement to inform PMRA of the intent to discontinue the sale of a pest control product has not changed under subsection 22(1) of the Act. However, the processing of voluntary discontinuations has changed since the publication of Regulatory Directive 2018-01 and subsequent update published on 21 December 2021.

New approach

The intent of this memo is to improve efficiency by clarifying the requirements for processing requests for discontinuation. It also addresses the suggestions from industry regarding the need for the PMRA to support consistent, effective and well documented procedures.

This memo details how a registrant should give notice of intent to discontinue sale of a pest control product to PMRA and how the PMRA will calculate the Last Date of Sale by Retailer and the Last Date of Permitted Use (Registration Cancellation Date). A sample Notice of Intent to Discontinue (NOID) letter has been included in Appendix A. The applicability of annual fees are also described in this memo.

Criteria for notice of intent to discontinue

Either the Registration Renewal Form (form #6000) or the NOID letter, will be acceptable to inform the PMRA of the intent to discontinue sales of a pest control product during its valid registration period. The NOID letter will be deemed acceptable if it is signed, provided on company letterhead and contains all of the following information:

1. The pest control product name
2. The Pest Control Product Registration Number
3. The Date of Last Sale by Registrant

Date of last sale by registrant, date of last sale by retailers, and last date of permitted use

The Date of Last Sale by Registrant corresponds to the date the product will no longer be available for sale by the Registrant.

In general, the Date of Last Sale by Retailers will be set by PMRA to one year after the Last Date of Sale by Registrant to allow the product to be substantially exhausted through retail or wholesale sales. The Last Date of Permitted Use will be set to one year after the Last Date of Sale by Retailers, to allow the remaining product stocks to be substantially exhausted though lawful use (1+1+1 rule of thumb). These dates can only be issued if the current expiry date does not fall before the calculated Last Date of Permitted Use and the active ingredient has not been cancelled as a result of re-evaluation.

If the Last Date of Sale by Registrant or the Last Date of Sale by Retailers will fall past the current Expiry Date of the product's registration, then the registrant will be advised to proceed with renewal and then submit a Notice of Intent to Discontinue.

• An example of calculating the 1+1+1, if the registration expiry date is December 31, 2028 and the Date of Last Sale by the Registrant provided was June 7, 2023:
  • Date of Last Sale by Registrant: 7 June 2023
  • Last Date of Sale by Retailer: 7 June 2024
  • Last date of permitted use: 7 June 2025 (registration cancelled).

Notice of Intent to Discontinue should be given no earlier than one (1) year before the proposed Date of Last Sale by Registrant.

If the product was never marketed or sold in Canada, please indicate "never sold" on either the Registration Renewal Form or NOID letter. Then, all three dates will be set to the date that PMRA received the Notice of Intent to Discontinue.

If the product has not been sold over 5+ years, please provide the last known date of sale by the registrant. The other dates will be set to the date that PMRA received the Notice of Intent to Discontinue.

It is also encouraged that based on existing stock, registrants propose a Last Date of Sale by Retailers in a separate cover letter, with a supporting rationale. This date must provide enough time for users to use up the product, fall within the current expiry date of the product and also respect the 1 + 1 + 1 rule of thumb. If the registrant does not propose a Last Date of Sale by Retailers, this date will be set as outlined in this document.

If an active ingredient is cancelled as a result of re-evaluation, the dates for affected products will be provided by Value and Re-evaluation Directorate (VRD) to the registrant and /or regulatory contact via email and/or letter from VRD as per published Regulatory Document DIR2018-01, Policy on Cancellations and Amendments Following Re-evaluation and Special Review.

Annual fees

The billing date for registration annual fees under the PMRA's cost recovery program is April 1 of any given year. Invoices for annual fees are issued on or after April 1, and are based on a products' regulatory status on that date. Products with a regulatory status of "registered" on April 1 will be invoiced for annual fees for that year. For products where the Registration Renewal Form or NOID letter has been received, annual fees will still apply if the regulatory status is still "registered" on April 1.

Implementation

To facilitate the expeditious processing of the Notice of Intent to Discontinue, registrants are encouraged to submit the Registration Renewal Form or NOID letter in electronic format through ePRS as per Regulatory Directive DIR2006-05 Requirements for Submitting Data Index, Documents and forms on the PMRA website.

Questions

Questions concerning the clarified requirements should be directed to the PMRA via the Pest Management Information Service.

By phone:

1 800-267-6315 (within Canada)

613-736-3799 (outside Canada)

By email:

pmra_infoserv@hc-sc.gc.ca

Appendix A Sample letter of notice of intent to discontinue

[COMPANY LETTERHEAD]

[Date]

[Section Head, Precedent Based Product Review Section]
Pest Management Regulatory Agency
2 Constellation Drive
Ottawa, ON K2G 5J9

Subject: Notice of Intent to Discontinue Sales of a Product

[Registrant Name] has discontinued sales of [Product Name] [ Registration Number]. The Date of Last Sale by Registrant is/ was [YYYY/ MM/DD]/ [never sold].

[Proposed date of Last Sale by Retailers and rationale].

Yours truly,

[Registrant signature]
[Printed signatory name and contact information]