Federal Insecticide, Fungicide and Rodenticide Act Compliance Monitoring
The Federal Insecticide, Fungicide and Rodenticide Act or FIFRA gives EPA the authority to regulate the registration, distribution, sale and use of pesticides. FIFRA applies to all types of pesticides, including:
- insecticides,
- herbicides,
- fungicides,
- rodenticides,
- antimicrobials, and
- devices
and extends to both intrastate and interstate commerce.
EPA issued a compliance advisory on the use of dicamba products in July 2017 because EPA and state agencies received an unusually high number of reports of crop damage that appear related to misuse of herbicides containing the active ingredient dicamba. The advisory provides information on the agricultural and compliance concerns raised by these incidents.
Individuals applying pesticides must do so in a manner not only consistent with federal laws, but also consistent with state and tribal laws and regulations, which may differ across the country. In general, states have primary authority within the state for compliance monitoring and enforcement against the use of pesticides in violation of labeling requirements. Compliance activities encompass the use of all of the tools available to make a compliance determination, ranging, for example, from off-site record reviews to on-site inspections as well as providing assistance to enhance compliance with the regulations promulgated under FIFRA.
The Compliance Monitoring Strategy for Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act provides a multi-year framework and national guidance for the FIFRA compliance assurance program to achieve the goals of FIFRA compliance monitoring and enforcement.
Compliance monitoring activities include:
- Inspecting pesticide-producing establishments, retailers, applicators, farms, and other sites
- Conducting inspections to determine compliance with the Worker Protection Standard Program
- Gathering important data through registering pesticide producing establishments
- Overseeing pesticide imports to and exports from the United States
- Inspecting laboratories under the Good Laboratory Practices Standards compliance monitoring program to ensure the quality and integrity of test data submitted to EPA in support of a pesticide product registration under FIFRA.
