ARCHIVED - Memo to Applicants, Registrants and their Regulatory Representatives - OMRI Label Claims on Pest Control Products

03 February 2011

1.0 Purpose

The purpose of this memo is to communicate Health Canada's Pest Management Regulatory Agency's (PMRA) policy with respect to the placement of the Organic Materials Review Institute (OMRI) seal on labels of pest control products registered in Canada. 

2.0 Background

The Regulatory Directive, DIR96-02: Environment Label Claims and Advertising of Pest Control Products describes the requirements for using environmental claims including statements such as Natural or Organic on labels of registered pest control products in Canada.  This helps to ensure responsible labelling and advertising. The Directive states that the use of the word Organic would not be allowed, until such time as a regulatory basis for certifying foods in organic food production systems was established by Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC). In the absence of clear policy direction on this issue, the PMRA permitted Registrants to use the OMRI listed® seal on products to indicate that they could be used in the production of organic foods.  OMRI is a private organization in the United States that refers to and interprets the National Organic Program Rule, an American standard, to review input products.

AAFC has now developed Organic Products Regulations (OPR) which form the basis of a federally regulated system for organic agriculture in Canada. Under these Regulations, organic certification is only for food and feed final products or for the cultivation of plants.  The Regulations do not provide for the certification of agricultural inputs in a way that would allow Canadian pest control product Registrants to place such a certification on their labels.

3.0 Policy

The PMRA has determined that inclusion of the OMRI listed seal on labels of Canadian registered pest control products label is no longer acceptable. This decision is consistent with the intent of Regulatory Directive, DIR96-02: Environment Label Claims and Advertising of Pest Control Products.

4.0 Implementation

The PMRA will remove the OMRI listed seal from the text based labels of all affected products.  The revised text labels will be sent to the applicable Registrants and posted on the PMRA website.  Registrants will have 18 months to next printing to amend their marketplace labels.

5.0 Questions

Questions concerning these requirements should be directed to the PMRA's Pest Management Information Service.