Why must I register my details with the Competent Authority?
If your business activity involves plant protection products (pesticides) you must comply with the Official Controls (Plant Protection Products) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2020.
This includes registering your details and business activities with the Competent Authority. For businesses with premises in Northern Ireland, the Competent Authority is the Department for Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs in Northern Ireland (DAERA).
Registration is your way of confirming to DAERA that you are complying with the regulations. You must only submit information that is true and accurate.
Separate registers have been compiled by Defra for businesses located in Great Britain (England, Wales and Scotland). Further guidance on how the government is implementing The Official Controls (Plant Protection Products) Regulations 2020 in Great Britain can be found on GOV.UK.
Further information on Official Controls relating to pesticides is available here.
Who must register?
You must register with DAERA if you are located in Northern Ireland and are either:
- a business that is involved in the supply chain of pesticides, their ingredients and adjuvants which are to be made available to buy for professional use including:
You do not need to register as a supply chain business if you import or sell pesticides only as part of a contractual service which includes applying those same pesticides to the client’s land. You should however register as a professional user.
- Manufacturers – businesses within Northern Ireland that produce formulated pesticides and/or produce pesticide ingredients or adjuvants for professional use.
- Importers – businesses that bring into Northern Ireland from outside the country (including for GB) pesticides and/or their ingredients or adjuvants for professional use within Northern Ireland.
- Processors – businesses within Northern Ireland that repack or relabel pesticides for professional use.
- Distributers – businesses that make pesticides available on the market for professional use in Northern Ireland, including wholesalers, retailers, vendors and suppliers and also include businesses that sell over the internet.
- a businesses that places on the market pesticides for amateur (home garden) use.
If your business is involved in the supply chain of both professional and amateur use pesticides and you have already registered as a business involved in the supply chain of professional use pesticides you do not need to register again. The Department may however contact you, using the email address you provided during registration and quoting your unique registration reference number to ask whether your data requires updating.
- a user of professional pesticides who as part of your work activity:
- store professional use pesticides.
- use professional pesticides.
- have professional pesticides applied by a third party.
All businesses, organisations and sole traders must register but not all the individuals who use plant protection products within that business or organisation.
Further guidance to assist you in determining whether you need to apply to join the register can be found on our FAQs document.
Who does not need to register?
You do not need to register with DAERA if:
- your business is involved in the supply chain or use of biocides such as rodenticides or products to control algae in ponds, or bio-stimulants, such as seaweed and plant extracts, and trace elements.
- you use pesticides authorised for amateur (home garden) use as part of your gardening hobby.
How to register
The Department has launched an online registration process.
Click here to register as a business that places professional use pesticides on the market and/or a business that places on the market pesticides for amateur (home garden) use (supply chain business).
Click here to register as a business, organisation or sole trader that stores or uses pesticides in a professional capacity as part of your work activity (professional user).
What information is being requested?
Section 5(1) of The Official Controls (Plant Protection Products) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2020 requires that each operator notify the Competent Authority (DAERA) of the following information:
- name and legal form.
- activities carried out.
- address(es) of the premises on which those activities are carried out.
You are also asked to estimate the quantity of pesticides stored, manufactured, processed, distributed, sold or used in a typical year. For professional users this includes the pesticides that you apply, and any pesticides you have applied for you by third parties.
In addition we have included two optional questions which you are under no legal requirement to answer, but if you chose to do so will confirm you have undergone the necessary training to do your job. The questions relate to:
- Certificate of competence held; and
- Membership of an industry recognised assurance scheme or CPE (CPD) Scheme
The online system allows you to register your business address and the addresses of all premises under your control where pesticides are manufactures, processes, stores or sold as part of the same registration process. If you submit the wrong information, or details about your company change you must notify the Department immediately by emailing pesticides@daera-ni.gov.uk noting ‘List of Registered Pesticide Operators’ and your unique registration reference number, in the subject line.
If your company closes or your work activity no longer involves pesticides, you must email pesticides@daera-ni.gov.uk and ask to be removed from the list of operators quoting the same information as above in the subject line.
Deadline for registration
The deadline for registration is set by legislation. If you are a company that places pesticides, their ingredients or adjuvants on the market for professional use, you should have registered by 31 March 2022.
If you are a business involved in the supply chain of amateur use (home garden) pesticides, you must register by 31 December 2022.
If you are a professional user, you also must register by 31 December 2022.
Although you should try and meet the above deadlines, the registration portal will remain open to allow all those who must register sufficient time to meet their legal obligation.
If you start carrying out any of these activities beyond the deadlines, you must register within 3 months of commencing your business.
Help with Registration
For help with completing the registration or to inform DAERA of any problem with the registration portal, you can email pesticides@daera-ni.gov.uk using ‘List of Registered Pesticide Operators – Query/Problem’ in the subject line.
How will the information I have provided be used?
The information you provide will be used by the Department in the organisation of official controls.
DAERA will share the minimum data necessary, for the purposes of applying the Official Controls (Plant Protection Products) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2020, with those persons authorised by the Department to carry out official controls on our behalf. Your business information will not be made publically available.
How long will my business data be held for?
DAERA, as the Competent Authority for Northern Ireland is legally required to draw up and keep an up-to-date list of operators. Data submitted by a business via online registration for the NI List of Pesticides Operators will therefore be held by DAERA for as long as is necessary to meet this requirement.
Where operators notify DAERA that a site has permanently closed or that the business has stopped trading, for any reason, DAERA will retain the data relating to the business in line with the Departments Retention and Disposal Schedule, after which the data will be deleted. If DAERA does not receive notification of such a change, the Department will continue to hold operators’ data.