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Conditions to be applied to the registration of a trade name product

Under the Animal Remedies and Pesticides Acts ‘off label’ use is not encouraged but it is not illegal. (All the approved uses are specified on the labels of animal remedies or pesticides.) In the past the primary concern about ‘off label’ use has been the potential for causing residues in primary produce. The governing Acts placed a statutory obligation on users to ensure that produce that breached the New Zealand food residue standards or residue regulations made under the Meat Act 1980 was not sold

As mentioned in earlier issues of AgVetLink, under the ACVM Act uses of trade name products outside the registration conditions will be illegal

The use of products in ways not specified in the registration (or on the label) of products is and will continue to be common practice, especially in regard to treatment of minor crops/ animal species or minor uses that are unlikely to prompt registration of particular products. Therefore, MAF intends to be as comprehensive as possible when applying conditions to registrations. The conditions will ensure that the alternative uses are not illegal. However, making a use legal will not in any way provide warranties or assurances in regard to the effectiveness or appropriateness of that use

The public register will list all approved uses, but the label on products will state only the uses recommended by the registrants of products. This means that, in the future, not all approved uses will be specified on the label, so parties will have to refer to the public register of trade name products to see if a particular use is legal

Registrants of products will not accept any responsibility for any damage caused by their products when they are used in ways that they have not recommended. Even though a use is legal, people who use a product in a way not recommended by the registrant of the product do so at their own risk. (The general use conditions to be applied to agricultural com-pounds are below and at right.)