Re-evaluation Note REV2016-07, Pest Management Regulatory Agency Re-evaluation and Special Review Work Plan 2015-2020

Pest Management Regulatory Agency
26 February 2016
ISSN: 1925-0649 (PDF version)

Catalogue number: H113-5/2016-7E-PDF (PDF version)

The purpose of this document is to inform registrants, pesticide regulatory officials and the Canadian public of the re-evaluation and special review work planned by Health Canada's Pest Management Regulatory Agency (PMRA) for the years 2015-2020. This document replaces the previously published Re-evaluation Note, REV2015-05, Pest Management Regulatory Agency Re-evaluation Work Plan 2015-2018.

PMRA regulates pesticides in Canada, with the primary objective of protecting the health of Canadians and the environment. A pesticide may only be sold or used in Canada if it has been registered or otherwise authorized under authority of the Pest Control Products Act. PMRA uses a rigorous science-based risk assessment approach to ensure that the product meets health and environmental standards and has value.

The pesticide re-evaluation program ensures that registered pesticides are reviewed every 15 years using modern assessment techniques and current scientific information. In addition, pesticides may be re-evaluated as a result of new information that could impact their acceptability under the Pest Control Products Act. A special review may also be initiated by the Minister of Health at any time if there are reasonable grounds to believe that the health or environmental risks, or the value, of a pesticide is no longer acceptable. Special reviews differ from re-evaluation in that a special review is intended to examine limited aspects of a pesticide whereas a re-evaluation examines all of the available information.

PMRA is concurrently engaged in various planned activities within the re-evaluation program, such as the re-evaluation of active ingredients in the current program (Regulatory Directive DIR2012-02, Re-evaluation Program Cyclical Re-evaluation), and active ingredients remaining from the previous program (Regulatory Directive DIR2001-03, PMRA Re-evaluation Program). In addition, PMRA is conducting special reviews for a number of active ingredients under its special review program. As a result, resources have been prioritized in order to complete reviews and publish the related documents noted below, over the five-year period from April 2015 to March 2020.

This five-year work plan may change in response to emerging issues that require priority action. PMRA will publish an updated work plan annually to reflect any necessary revisions. On an annual basis, PMRA will also report on the progress of the re-evaluation and special review programs.

Table 1 and Table 2 provide the lists of the active ingredients and their expected documents included in the Re-evaluation and Special Review Work Plan for 2015-2020.

Table 3 provides a list of the active ingredients for which re-evaluation was recently initiated (2014-2015). Scoping reviews of these active ingredients are currently underway to identify the focus for the re-evaluation. The expected timelines for proposed and final decisions will be included in the future updated work plan documents.

Table 3 Re-evaluations Initiated from April 2014 to December 2015