Pesticides: Exports

(asked on 16th March 2021) - View Source

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if he will make it his policy to ban the export of pesticides not allowed in the UK or the EU to (a) India and (b) other countries; and whether he has made an assessment of the (i) health and (ii) environmental impacts of those pesticides.


Answered by
Victoria Prentis Portrait
Victoria Prentis
Attorney General
This question was answered on 24th March 2021

Pesticides may be used in the UK if the active substance has been approved and the product has been authorised. Assessments for approval and authorisation cover potential risks to health and to the environment.

The export from the UK of pesticides is regulated under the Great Britain Prior Informed Consent (PIC) regulatory regime for the export and import of certain hazardous chemicals. Companies intending to export any of these chemicals from the UK must notify the importing country via the exporter’s Designated National Authority. For Great Britain, the Designated National Authority is the Health and Safety Executive.

The exchange of information that PIC provides allows the importing countries to make informed decisions on the import of those chemicals for their specific circumstances and on how to handle and use them safely.

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