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Processing applications for registration or for varying registrations for trade name products that may be hazardous substances

All applications received by the ACVM Group must now be processed under the provisions of the ACVM Act.

Subsections 21(5) and 27(7) of that Act place obligations on the ACVM Group not to register an agricultural compound trade name product that is also a hazardous substance or new organism unless an approval for the substance or organism has been issued under the Hazardous Substances and New Organisms (HSNO) Act 1996.

The phrase 'an approval for that substance or organism has been issued under the Hazardous Substances and New Organisms Act 1996' if interpreted strictly and literally could mean an approval under Part V of the HSNO Act or regulations made under section 160, which specify that a substance or a group of substances are deemed to have been assessed and approved by the Authority.

Legal advice to the ACVM Group is that where a substance is equivalent to a substance recognised as legally present in New Zealand under the transitional provisions of the HSNO Act, an approval is not required. The ERMA NZ Guidelines state that if a substance or organism is currently present in New Zealand as a legal substance or organism then it is not necessary to make an application for approval. Therefore, if a substance is the same as one covered by the transitional provisions (because it is a registered pesticide or was notified as a toxic substance), then it does not require ERMA NZ approval. Under these circumstances sections 21(5) and 27(7) of the ACVM Act either do not apply or, if they do, have been satisfied.

Consequently, the following policy shall be applied to the processing of applications to register or to vary a registration of an agricultural compound trade name product that may be a hazardous substance.

Applications for registration of a new trade name product must also include either:

• Reference to the appropriate ERMA NZ approvals; or
• a determination from ERMA NZ that the trade name product is either not a hazardous substance or is legally present in New Zealand under the transitional provisions of the HSNO Act; or
• a non-hazardous substance declaration signed by the applicant, if the trade name product is not a hazardous substance; or
• a declaration that the product is legally present in New Zealand under the transitional provisions of the HSNO Act.

The application will be notified to ERMA NZ in accordance with section 13 of the ACVM Act. If the application includes only a signed declaration and ERMA NZ advises the ACVM Group that the trade name product is a hazardous substance that is not covered by the transitional provisions of the HSNO Act, the ACVM Group shall complete its evaluation of the application and make its decision. However, it shall advise the applicant that the ACVM registration cannot be issued until there is confirmation from ERMA NZ that the appropriate approvals have been issued.

Where the required information has been provided, the ACVM Group will complete its decision making process under section 21 of the ACVM Act 1997, registering or varying the registration of  the trade name product, if appropriate.

Paul Dansted has recently joined the ACVM Group as Senior Advisor (Technical Policy). He will be primarily responsible for development of ACVM policy and standards, and will work closely with the Operational Policy Committee and the NZFSA's Policy Group.

Paul holds a Ph.D. in organic chemistry from the University of Auckland. He was previously a senior policy analyst in the Food Group of the Ministry of Health. Although Paul enjoyed this work and all its challenges, he is looking forward to working with the ACVM Group of the new NZFSA.