The Ministry of Climate Change and Environment (MOCCAE) has issued Ministerial Decree No. 27 of the year 2018 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). The resolution will come into force three months after it is published in the Official Gazette.
The new decree mandates that an establishment must obtain a license from the ministry prior to registering a pesticide, and that pesticides can only be imported, exported or circulated in the UAE after they are registered with the ministry. Banned pesticides cannot be registered or imported into the country. The new resolution 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 the English language from two different countries of the Organization 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 tradename differs in the registration certificates issued in both OCED countries, a second composition certificate is required.
Under the new resolution, government research centers 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 liters/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, its goals, date and venue, and that the exhibition organizer requests an import permit for the pesticides to be used and displayed in the exhibition, mentioning the type and quantity of the pesticides for every exhibitor.
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.
The Ministry of Climate Change and Environment has the right to take samples of pesticides to ensure conformity with the approved specifications. If they fail to meet these specifications, the ministry has the right to cancel or suspend the import permit