NATIONAL LAW INSTITUTE UNIVERSITY,
BHOPAL
AGRICULTURAL LAW
XV Trimester
INSECTICIDES ACT: LAW, REGISTRATION AND REFORMS
SUBMITTED TO: Prof. Siddhartha K. Jain,
Faculty In Charge Agricultural Law
SUBMITTED BY : Rohit Vijaya Chandra, 2010 BALLB 50
Contents
INTRODUCTION...................................................................................................... 3
Salient features of the Insecticides Act...............................................................4
Compulsory registration..................................................................................4
Central Insecticides Board...............................................................................4
Registration Committee...................................................................................4
Central Laboratory.......................................................................................... 5
Insecticide Inspectors...................................................................................... 5
REGISTRATION OF PESTICIDES............................................................................... 6
Section 9 (3)(b):........................................................................................... 6
Section 9 (3):................................................................................................ 6
Section 9 (4):................................................................................................ 7
Labels and Leaflets:......................................................................................... 7
Safety concerns............................................................................................... 8
AMENDMENTS IN THE ACT..................................................................................... 9
PESTICIDES MANAGEMENT BILL, 2008.................................................................10
SECTOR INITIATIVES TAKEN BY THE GOVERNMENT..............................................10
INTRODUCTION
Judicious use of quality pesticides is an indispensable input in plant protection. Pesticides are
commonly used in crop protection measures for sustaining food production. These are also
used for the control of vector born diseases. Pesticides, being toxic by their very nature, are
hazardous to human beings and ecosystem. The residues of pesticides enter into food chain
and cause harm to human and animal health. Keeping this in view, the import, manufacture,
sale, transport, use etc. of pesticides is being regulated under a comprehensive statute- The
Insecticides Act, 1968 and the Rules framed there under-to ensure availability of quality, safe
and efficacious pesticides to the farming community.
The Insecticides act was enacted in 1968 and its implementation started in 1971 with the
framing of the insecticides rules. The insecticide act, 1968, is mainly safety oriented
legislation. Pesticides being toxic by their very nature are hazardous to human beings and
environment. The residues of pesticides also enter into the food chain and are harmful to
human and animal health. It regulates imports, manufacture, storage, transport, sale,
distribution and use of insecticides with a view to prevent risk to human beings and animals.
During the last 38 years, various provisions of this Act were amended. Many lacunae were
found by the functionaries appointed under the Act during the implementation and
endorsement of its provisions. Courts Lave reviewed various provisions of this Act and a few
of them have even suggested for amendment of this Act substantially with a view to carry out
the functions for implementation and enforcement thereof to fulfil the objectives of this Act.
The Central Government, therefore, made certain amendments in the Insecticides Act, 1968
and Rules 1971 through the Insecticides (Amendment) Act 1999. This covers almost the
whole 1968 Act including the Preamble.
Salient features of the Insecticides Act
Compulsory registration
Central Insecticides Board
Registration Committee
Central Laboratory
Power to prohibit & confiscate
Compulsory registration
The Insecticides Act, 1968 mandates the compulsory registration of the product at the
Central level and licenses for manufacture, formulation and sale at state level.
Central Insecticides Board
Inter departmental / ministerial / organizational co-ordination is achieved by a high
level advisory board Central Insecticides Board with 24 members (to be raised to
29 by an amendment) drawn from various fields having expert knowledge of the
subject.
The Chairman of the Board is Director-General of Health Services, Ministry of Health
and Family Welfare, Government of India.
Registration Committee
The Registration Committee constituted under Section 5 of the Insecticides Act, 1968
registers pesticides only after satisfying itself regarding their efficacy and safety to
human beings and animals. If the pesticides are used as per the guidelines contained
on their labels and leaflets, they do not cause any damage to human beings, animals or
the environment.
The Act provides for notification of four important functionaries for this purpose, viz.
Licensing Officer, Appellate Authority, Insecticide Inspector and Insecticide Analyst,
to ensure that only genuine/quality pesticides are dispensed/distributed in the market.
Stringent administrative/legal action is taken against defaulters of law by the
State/Union Territories.
Central Laboratory
There is a network of 49 State Pesticide Testing Laboratories and 2 Regional Pesticide
Testing Laboratories of the Central Government, and the Central Insecticides
Laboratory, established under Section 16 of the Insecticides Act, 1968 to test and
analyze the quality of insecticides. About 50,000 samples are drawn and tested
annually.
These State Pesticides Testing Laboratories (SPTLs) are located in 20 states and one
union territory with a total annual capacity of 51,440 samples. Besides, two Regional
Pesticide Testing Laboratories (RPTLs) at Kanpur and Chandigarh, have also been set
up for supplementing the resources of the states/union territories in the analysis of
pesticides, particularly for those states/union territories that do not have their own
State Pesticide Testing Laboratory.
Both central and state governments implement the Act. The Central Government is
responsible for registration of pesticides and state governments are responsible for
enforcement of the provisions relating to manufacture, sale, transport, distribution and use.
Central and state governments are both responsible for quality control, and for the purpose,
there are laboratories at centre, state and regional levels.
Insecticide Inspectors
Central or State Government appoints person called Insecticide Inspector who is empowered.
To enter and search premises
To stop the distribution or sale or use of insecticide
Take samples of insecticide and send for analysis
REGISTRATION OF PESTICIDES
According to Section 3 (e) of Insecticides Act, 1968, the word pesticides means
(i)
(ii)
any substance specified in the Schedule; or
such other substances (including fungicides and weedicides) as the Central
Government may, after consultation with the Board, by notification in the Official
Gazette, include in the schedule from time to time; or
(iii) any preparation containing any one or more of such substances. Thus,
(iii)
technically all insecticides (pesticides) in India are those substances that are listed
on the "Schedule" of the Insecticides Act, 1968. The Schedule to the Act
enumerates an exhaustive list of Insecticides which are legally covered under the
Act
In India, the pesticides are registered by Registration Committee constituted under section 5
of The Insecticides Act, 1968 after satisfying itself regarding efficacy of the pesticide and its
safety to human beings, animals and the environment. It also registers pesticides after
scrutinizing the formulae, verifying claims of efficacy and safety to human beings and
animals, specify the precautions against poisoning and any other function incidental to these
matters.
Before the registration of any pesticide, the registration committee also evaluate data on
various parameters such as chemistry, acute toxicity, long-term and supplementary toxicity,
shelf life, persistence in water, soil and environment; and its efficacy. After being satisfied
with these data, the Registration Committee registers the pesticides. Under the provisions of
the Insecticides Act, the pesticides are registered under the following sections:
Section 9 (3)(b): Any new molecule/pesticide which have to be registered for
the first time in the country is registered provisionally for a period of 2 years on such
conditions as may be specified by the registration committee. This registration is for
data generation and commercialization is not permitted under this Section.
Section 9 (3): After fulfilling the pending enquiry or the conditions as specified
by the registration committee while registering the pesticide provisionally, the
pesticide may be registered regularly under this section. It is a permanent registration,
and commercialization is permitted.
Section 9 (4): If an insecticide has been registered regularly under Section 9(3)
on application of any person, then any other person desiring to import or manufacture
insecticide on payment of prescribed fee be allotted a registration number and granted
a certificate of registration in respect thereof on the same conditions on which the
insecticide was originally registered.
Data requirement for registration of any pesticide includes various parameters of chemistry,
bio efficacy, toxicity and packaging. Onus of data submission lies with the applicant. It varies
with the nature of pesticide, type of material (technical or formulation), and purpose of
registration (domestic consumption or export). The Registration Committee based on
assessment of data imposes certain restrictions of instructions or cautionary statements to be
given on labels and leaflets.
Labels and Leaflets:
As per the rules on insecticides, the labels and leaflets approved by the registration committee
should form the integral part of containers of every pesticide. These are identification marks
of every pesticide.
The labels and leaflets are required to contain information on:
(i)
(ii)
(iii)
(iv)
(v)
(vi)
(vii)
(viii)
(ix)
(x)
(xi)
(xii)
Name of the product,
Chemical composition,
Name of the manufacturer,
Symptoms of poisoning,
First-aid measure,
Cautionary statements,
Directions concerning usage,
Restrictions (if any),
Instructions for storage,
Information regarding disposal of used packages,
Application equipment, and
Waiting period.
Safety concerns
Registration Committee ensures that potential benefits from pesticides are obtained without
any adverse implications as regulatory agencies are aware that the damage to ecosystem may
lead to reduced agricultural production, decrease quality of environment and also economic
losses outside agriculture. However, since the pesticides are not used according to
recommended instructions, the pesticide residues are detected. Pesticide residues could affect
human health and also influence the international trade.
AMENDMENTS IN THE ACT
1. Exports are now explicitly included within the ambit of the Act. The classification
of misbranded insecticides as given in Section 3 (K) has been modified and
divided into five categories viz;
Misbranded,
Substandard,
Spurious, and
Duplicate.
2. These clarifications have been fixed according to the severity of the offence and it
appears to be more conducive and reasonable.
3. In Section 4 (3), some more members have been added in the constitution of the
Board.
4. In the amendment, the time limit for replying the show cause notice has been
reduced from 28 days to 10 days only.
5. A new provision has been introduced by the Central Govt under Section 24 (7)
that since the test report of the Central Insecticides Laboratory is stated to be the
conclusive evidence; the Director of Central Insecticides Laboratory need not be
summoned by the court to prove the documents.
6. The amended Rule 9A (3) (vi) is for compulsory use of I.S.I. Mark for every
insecticide. In Rule 10(2), the applicant for grant of renewal of a license to sell
insecticide should have a minimum qualification of 10+2 with science or
agriculture as one of his subjects.
7. For an offence deemed to be misbranded, there is provision for issuing
administrative warning of the offence which may be compounded by imposing
fine up to Rs. 2,000. An offence deemed to be sub-standard, shall be punishable
for first offence with fine up to Rs. 5,000 and for subsequent offence with
imprisonment for a term which may extend to 6 months or fine up to Rs. 10,000 or
both.
PESTICIDES MANAGEMENT BILL, 2008
On April 24, 2008, the Union Cabinet gave its approval for the introduction of the Pesticides
Management Bill 2008, which will replace the existing Insecticide Act 1968.
The Bill aims at improving the quality of pesticides available to Indian farmers and
introducing new, safe and efficacious pesticides. The Bill seeks more effective regulation of
import, manufacture, export, sale, transport, distribution and use of pesticides to prevent the
risk to human beings, animals, or environment and to de-license retail sale of household
insecticides. Besides, the Bill is also promoting a detailed categorisation of offences and
punishments for greater deterrence to violators and timely disposal of time-barred pesticides
in an environmentally-safe manner.
SECTOR INITIATIVES TAKEN BY THE GOVERNMENT
In order to promote investments in the sector the government has allowed 100% FDI
through the automatic route.
The government has also de-licensed the manufacturing process of pesticides.
The government has also set up the Central Insecticides Laboratory for pre- and postregistration verification of properties, looking at the performance and hazards of pesticides
and the proposed use claimed by the manufacturers. To supplement the resources of the
states/UTs in the analysis of pesticides, two regional pesticides testing laboratories have also
been set up at Chandigarh and Kanpur. Besides, India has a network of 46 quality control
laboratories for pesticides with the capacity to analyse more than 60,000 samples every year.
The government is promoting research on the use of alternative and safe pesticides using
neem seeds. A country programme entitled Development and production of neem products
as environment friendly pesticides is being undertaken by the Department of Chemicals &
Petrochemicals with the financial assistance of United Nations Development Programme
(UNDP) which will lead to:
1 Preservation of ecosystem
2 Conservation of biological diversity
3 Improved water quality both ground and surface water
4 Environmentally-sustainable economic development
5 Propagation of receptive models for development, promotion and conservation of
biologically diverse bio-pesticides as an alternative to persistent organic pollutants
(POPs) pesticides.
