Mandatory Pesticide Sales Reporting

From: Health Canada

Health Canada uses sales data to provide context in assessing the risk of pesticide use. For example, sales data is used:

• in the review or re-evaluation of pesticides to understand the presence and impact of each pesticide in the Canadian marketplace
• for identifying trends in pesticide use
• to predict potential impacts if changes are made to the registration status of the pesticide
• to inform the Pesticide Incident Reporting Program of the market share of particular pesticides to identify potential risks that may require attention
• as an additional input to market and economic trend analyses
• in the development of policies and regulatory updates

Submitting pesticide sales data

Registrants are required to submit sales information for the previous calendar year on or before 1 June of the current year.

Registrants are required to submit their sales information using the Pesticide Sales Reporting Form. Registrants should refer to the Guidance Document for the Sales Information Reporting Regulations and Reporting Form to ensure that the sales information is reported correctly.

Data collection and verification

Once a registrant has submitted their sales information, it proceeds through a quality assurance process that includes an assessment for completeness and integrity of the data. This ensures there are no errors in reporting.

The assessment process consists of several steps, which include:

1. Upload the sales information to our database. Completed sales information reporting forms are sent in electronic format so they can be uploaded into the Electronic Pesticide Regulatory System (e-PRS).
2. Review the information. Sales information is reviewed using a series of tests, both manually and using a data management tool. These steps ensure that the data is complete and free from errors.
3. Standardize the data. Since different pesticides are measured in different ways, and are reported in different volumes, the sales information is converted into kilograms of active ingredient (kg a.i.) to allow the data to be summarized and compared.
4. Assess the completed and corrected data. The data are analyzed for any issues or discrepancies, such as significant changes from what was reported in the previous year.

5. Publish the annual pest control product sales report. Once all the sales information has been received and processed through the above steps, the annual Pest Control Product Sales Report is prepared and published.

Reporting on pesticide sales

Health Canada makes pest control product sales information available through the publication of annual Pest Control Products Sales Reports.

As sales data are considered to be Confidential Business Information under the Pest Control Products Act (s.43(4)c), detailed sales information is not included in the annual public sales reports; only summaries and ranges are provided.

The annual reports summarize sales data in categories based on their use (for example, agricultural, non-agricultural, or domestic), and by the type of product (for example, herbicide, insecticide, fungicide, antimicrobial, biopesticides). Within these groupings, "Top 10" lists are provided.

In addition to this, the annual reports include actual sales volumes for groupings of pesticide active ingredients that are chemically similar, as well as a sales volume range for each active ingredient.

Compliance and enforcement

Under the Pest Control Products Act subsection 8(5), registrants are required to report sales information about their pest control products. The Pest Control Products Sales Information Reporting Regulations require registrants of pesticides to report the quantity of every product they make available for sale each year, in each province and territory.

As of 1 April, 2023, Health Canada is implementing a transparent and consistent approach to the 1 June sales information reporting requirement of the Pest Control Products Sales Information Reporting Regulations.

The Pest Management Regulatory Agency will no longer be following up with registrants who do not submit their volumetric sales report by the 1 June deadline. That requirement will be enforced by the Regulatory Operations and Enforcement Branch's Pesticide Compliance Program.

Registrants who fail to submit their volumetric sales report by the 1 June deadline will be subject to enforcement actions under the Pest Control Products Act that may include,

• warning letters
• compliance orders
• court orders
• recommendation to the Public Prosecution Service of Canada for prosecution

Other administrative measures under the Pest Control Products Act could also be considered as well as Administrative monetary penalties issued under the Agriculture and Agri-Food Administrative Monetary Penalties Act.

Health Canada's Pesticide Compliance Program will inform non-compliant registrants of the required corrective actions (in other words submit the volumetric sales report to PMRA according to the Guidance Document for the Sales Information Reporting Regulations and Reporting Form), and timelines to complete the corrective actions (in other words, timeline to submit the outstanding volumetric sales report). Failure to comply will result in escalating enforcement actions. Registrant non-compliance with sales information reporting requirements will continue to be made public on the Canada.ca website under Pest control product registrant inspections.

Contact information

If you have any questions about sales information reporting or for help submitting this information to the PMRA, please contact the Sales Information Reporting team.