The Official Controls (Plant Protection Products) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2020 – List of Operators Registration

Why must I register my details with the Competent Authority?

If your business activity involves plant protection products (PPPs) 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 is available on the Plant Protection Products (pesticides) and Official Controls web page.

Who must register?

You must register with DAERA if your business is located in Northern Ireland and is either:

1. A Supply Chain Operator i.e. a business that is involved in the supply chain of PPPs, their active ingredients and adjuvants for professional and amateur (home garden) use including:
   • Manufacturers – businesses that produce formulated PPPs and/or produce pesticide active ingredients or adjuvants.
   • Importers – businesses that bring into Northern Ireland from outside the country (including GB) PPPs and/or their ingredients or adjuvants for sale and use within Northern Ireland.
   • Processors – businesses that repack or relabel PPPs for professional and amateur use.
   • Distributors/Retailers – businesses that make PPPs and/or their ingredients or adjuvants available on the market for professional and amateur use in Northern Ireland, including businesses that sell over the internet.

You do not need to register as a supply chain business if you import or sell PPPs only as part of a contractual service which includes applying those same PPPs to the client’s land. You should however register as a professional user.

2. A professional user i.e. someone who as part of their work activity:
   • stores professional use PPPs
   • uses professional PPPs.
   • has professional PPPs 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 PPPs authorised for amateur (home garden) use as part of your gardening hobby.

How to register

The Department has launched an online registration process which can be accessed by selecting one of the green button's below.

SUPPLY CHAIN OPERATOR REGISTER

PROFESSIONAL USER REGISTER

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 PPPs stored, manufactured, processed, distributed, sold or used in a typical year. For professional users this includes the pesticides that you apply, and any PPPs 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 PPPs are manufactured, processed, stored, sold or used as part of the same registration process. 

Retaining your registration Record

When you have successfully completed your registration, you will receive an email acknowledgement with your unique registration number and a copy of the details you have provided attached. You should keep this email as part of your PPP records as you may be asked to provide evidence of your registration to a Departmental Inspector. 

Updating your registration information

If you submit the wrong information, or details about your company change over time 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 business/work activity no longer involves PPPs, 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

If you are an established PPP supply chain operator or professional user and have not registered yet, you should do so without further delay. If you do note register, you may be subject to enforcement action.

If you are a new PPP operator business, you must register within 3 months of commencing your business activity.

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 to organise and deliver official controls for PPPs and ensure compliance with the PPP regulatory regime.

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 or other PPP related inspections, on our behalf. Your business information will not be made publicly 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.